


Punishment of the Self

by phoenixreal



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Control, Domestic Violence, Eye Gouging, Eye Licking, Gang Violence, M/M, Rape/Non-con Elements, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Serial Killers, Sexual Abuse, Threats of Violence, Verbal Abuse, Verbal Humiliation, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-01-07 15:49:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1121695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixreal/pseuds/phoenixreal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ichigo is quiet, and doesn't really hang out with is friends that he works with at the large elegant hotel Las Noches. One night though, Renji gets a frantic call for help and goes to finds him beaten and bloody, the victim of a domestic assault. But he claims he gets what he deserves, that it is his punishment. Can Renji and Grimmjow reach him? GrimXIchiXRen, GrimXIchi, RenXIchi</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Call in the Night

 

It was raining that night, and the nine year old boy was walking with his mother, his precious and loving mother.  He almost slipped a couple times, and she caught him, laughing out loud at his clumsiness.  They were so happy, even in the pouring rain.  Then there was someone there, as the lightning cracked the sky open, and he was demanding money.  The mother didn’t have anything, but the man insisted.  So the boy, who wanted to protect his dear mother tried to stop the man with the gun.  He was young, only twelve, but he was strong.  But then, in the rain, a sound unlike the thunder cracked and he froze as he looked around, his hand gripping the gunman’s hands tightly.  It had gone off in the struggle and his mother was looking at him with wide, shocked eyes.

The gunman got to his feet and was gone.  The boy dropped down to his knees as his mother slowly fell.  He caught her in his arms as she gasped for air, blood soaking the boy’s clothes.  She whispered something, but he didn’t hear her because the thunder was too loud.

Ichigo Kurosaki jolted awake in the bathtub, having fallen asleep long enough for the usual dream to visit him.  Any time he was in pain or sad, it visited him to remind him why he was in pain and why he was so very sad.  He groaned quietly, because the dream left his heart aching for so long afterward that he almost forgot his physical pain.  It had been years ago, and still, it haunted him.  He cradled his throbbing head as he breathed deeply.  He swallowed carefully and winced, his throat raw still.  He looked down, seeing the deep bruises on his thighs again.  He sighed.  It had been his fault, it usually was after all.  He should have been more careful, but the plates had fell from the counter with a resounding crash, and then his boyfriend was on him, yanking him away as he stammered apologies.

It had ended like most nights.  Ichigo was sitting in the tub, nursing new bruises and ignoring the blood in the bathwater.  He hugged his knees and wondered what it would be like to just slide below and suck that blood tainted water into his lungs and happily die.  No one would miss him, he was sure.  But he was weak, and instead let the water go down the drain and got out of the tub, hoping that his bedmate was already asleep.  He’d had enough for tonight.  He looked in the mirror at his damp orange hair and thought he deserved what had happened.  He deserved so much worse.

He quickly threw on a big shirt and light pants and limped out of the bathroom, his body screaming after sitting too long in the tub.

“What took you so long?” the gruff voice demanded from the darkness.

Ichigo swallowed convulsively, and looked up, seeing him sitting on the bed staring at him. The room smelled of “I-I w-was…” he started.

He was so fast though, and soon Ichigo found himself slammed up against the wall gasping for air at the pale hand clamped around his neck.  He reached out weakly to try and pull the hand away.  He was being held up, and it hurt a lot.  Aaroniero was tall, at least five inches taller than Ichigo, but he was deceptively thin man.  He gazed at Ichigo with the bleary, muddy colored blue eyes that seemed to plague Ichigo’s nightmares more often than not.  He tried to avoid his breath and just the horrible smell that came off him most the time. 

“Ronny, please, it hurts,” he croaked against the hand holding him up.

Aaroniero, or Ronny as most people called him, smelled of the crystal meth he’d been smoking.  The whole room stank of it, a mix of ammonia and burning plastic, and that was a really bad thing for Ichigo.  It was iodine cut, he could tell by the strong scent.  That meant Ronny had gotten a nasty batch.  When he was high on that type, he was stronger and more aggressive.  Suddenly, the claw like hand let go and Ichigo fell with a groan as his body ached.  Ronny ran a hair through his stringy, black hair and he shook his head.

“What did I say about talking like that to me?” he said slowly.

Ichigo didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what he’d done, so his pain misted eyes let loose a couple tears to slide down his face.  He gasped, reaching to wipe them away, but it was too late.  The pale hand connected with his face, sending him flying to the side with unnatural force.

“I told you if you cried again, I would make sure you had a good reason,” Ronny said, moving over to him and grabbing him by the bicep and yanking him to the bed.

“No, please, Ronny, not again, please!” he said, clenching his jaw at the pain blossoming there.  He never hit him in the face.  Never anywhere that could be seen.  And now that he had broken that rule, Ichigo was truly scared.

He tried to crawl away, but it was impossible as the larger man pressed him down into the bed, yanking his sleeping pants off him.  He gasped at the sudden exposure, but didn’t have time to register it before burning hot pain consumed him from behind.  He gritted his teeth, knowing better than to cry out, but he couldn’t help the soft cry that escaped his lips.  He only became rougher and faster and Ichigo was sobbing into the thick comforter underneath his head.  Finally, he dropped him, yanking him around and shoving himself down Ichigo’s throat, sending a searing pain through him as he emptied himself there.  He knew better than to cough, better than to spit.  It only got worse if he did.  Ronny shoved him onto his back again, staring at him for a moment, and he smiled again.

Then Ichigo felt the crunching of bone as Ronny began to punch into his ribs viciously.  He tried not to cry out, but it hurt, and every time he cried out, Ronny slammed his fist into his ribcage even harder.  He was incensed, completely without reason, Ichigo knew.  He had no idea what he was doing and it didn’t matter.  Ichigo could only bear it but it was harder and harder until finally he stopped.  He stood up and stared down at Ichigo with those muddy colored eyes and Ichigo was really and truly afraid of what he was going to do.

Ronny stared for a minute, a strange smile crossing his face as he pushed down with one hand on Ichigo’s throat. 

“Your eyes are the prettiest prize I’ve ever gotten, baby,” he said softly in complete contrast to the fact he was cutting off Ichigo’s airway.  “Remember that the only reason they’re still in that fucking obnoxiously colored head of yours is because I allow it.  Or do you want me to put them on display with the rest?”

Ichigo couldn’t breathe to say anything as he leaned forward and pressed his nose against Ichigo’s.  “So, so pretty, baby.  Beautiful and rich and the darkest chocolate ever…” he whispered and grinned again.  Ichigo knew what he was going to do and knew that he couldn’t stop him from doing it. 

Aaroniero had a fetish, a really unhealthy fetish, for eyes.  In particular, he had a nice little “collection” of eyes.  The only real problem about his little collection was the fact that he’d taken them himself, from still living victims.  Those victims, of course, were no longer living, however.  He had fallen in love with Ichigo’s eyes, so much so that he wanted him whole.  He wanted to see them change and function.  He wanted his eyes in his head.  He never failed to let him know that that could change at a moment’s notice.  He also never failed to let him know that his sisters both had very lovely eyes as well. 

The hand on his neck let go and instead both hands were on his eye socket prying his lid open.  He hated it when he did this, but it usually happened when he was this high.  He grinned again and leaned toward his eye and pressed his tongue against the surface.  Ichigo knew better than to move.  Granted at the moment he was in so much pain moving wasn’t an option.  He’d already suffered a scratched cornea three times and two incredibly bad infections because he flinched or angered him.  He tried to breathe through it.  He could feel the edges of his tongue against his eyelids, sliding against the smooth surface of his eye.  It was by far, the most disgusting and degrading thing Ronny ever did to him.  Considering the other things Ronny did, that was saying something.

He jerked back, letting go of Ichigo’s eyelids finally.  Ichigo laid there and blinked rapidly and then Ronny grinned again, his fetid breath strong.  “You need to be punished for being such a naughty bad, bad boy.  I’m done with you today.  If you’re lucky, I’ll bring you back home before tonight.”

Then Ronny grabbed Ichigo by the wrist and threw him out their apartment’s front door, locking it behind him.  It wasn’t the first time this had happened.  Ichigo had used the excuse that he had lost his key and the manager had come opened it the next day after he had slept in the pool room.  But that was closed, and he was in a lot of pain right now.  He could hardly breathe.  He was glad his shirt was long, actually one of Ronny’s shirts.  He managed to get to the payphone at the end of the hall and picked it up.  He had no change, so he called the operator for a collect call.

It was almost four am, so he wasn’t sure if his friend would even answer. But a sleepy voice answered the phone, and Ichigo sighed in relief.  The operator said there was a payphone collect call for him and if he would accept the charges for Ichigo.

“Of course!” the voice on the other end said, his voice sounding less sleepy all of a sudden, tinged with worry.

There was a long pause as the operator left the conversation and Ichigo tried to breathe enough to speak.

“Ichigo?” queried the voice.  “Are you there, bud?”

“Yah,” he breathed the word out, not trusting that he could get anything else out. 

“What’s going on?” the voice asked again.

He panted, finding it excruciatingly hard to form words into coherent thoughts.  “R-Renji, need…ah…help…hurt…”  he managed finally gasping heavily as he felt himself sliding down the wall to the ground, the phone clutched desperately in his hand.

“What’s happened? Are you at your apartment?” Renji asked, quickly.

“Yah,” he breathed, groaning as he finally dropped the phone.

He was lost in a haze of pain as he sat there, clutching his ribs, not even aware if anyone walked by to see him struggling to breath in the hallway half naked.  He heard someone and he looked up to see Renji kneeling in front of him.  He smiled, then gasped, his breath coming in short, hard pants.  There was someone there with Renji, someone he didn’t know.

“My God, Ichi, what the hell happened to you?” Renji gasped.

He breathed in and out, finding it hard to do anything else at the moment.  “I messed up,” he finally said.  “My fault, should have…ah…known,” he said and slumped down, falling to the side, leaving nothing to the imagination as the shirt slid up on him.

Renji frowned, seeing the thick trails of blood on the inside of his thighs, and the huge purple bruises on his legs, and all down them to his calves, other bruises of varying colors.  He’d never seen his legs; he always wore pants.  Come to think of it, he always wore long sleeves, claiming he had a thyroid condition that made him cold all the time.  Ignoring his nakedness, he picked up the shirt and gasped at the mass of purple and red bruises on his ribs.  He put his head to his chest.

“Shit, I think he’s got a ruptured lung,” he muttered, looking up at his friend with the teal hair.  “Help me, Grimm, we gotta get him to a hospital.”

Renji carefully gathered him up and nearly ran with the smaller man.  They rushed him into the ER and he was swiftly taken away by the staff to see what was wrong with him.  Renji sat down in a couch, staring into space until he felt Grimmjow’s hand fall to his shoulder.

“Red, what the hell is this about?  Isn’t that the kid you met at your job?” he said.

Renji nodded.  “Yeah, I’ve known him a while.  As long as I’ve been there, but I’ve never had him meet me outside of the hotel.  When we’re slow, we talk, and the day passes a lot faster.”

Renji worked at a high class hotel as a doorman.  Ichigo worked behind the counter during the week days.  He’d grown rather fond of the orange haired kid.  He was in college, taking night classes so he could work during the day.  Renji had thought it odd for a kid that was barely eighteen to take night classes and work full time.  Renji knew where he lived because often gave him rides to work, but today was the first time he’d actually been in the building.

Finally a strange looking doctor walked out and shook Renji’s hand.  “You brought in your friend, Ichigo?” he asked softly.  He had pink hair of all things.  But then considering that he was standing next to the blue haired Grimmjow, and he himself had vivid red hair, he couldn’t say anything.

“How is he? Can I see him?” he asked in a rush.

The pink haired doctor nodded.  “All in good time, I have some questions first.  My name is Dr. Szayel Granz.  Now, are you Ichigo’s significant other?”

Renji started.  “What?  No, of course not!”

The man noted something.  “Why were you the one to bring him into the ER this morning?”

“He called me from the payphone at his complex.  And he sounded hurt so I rushed over and found him like that sitting in the hallway,” Renji answered, slowing his breathing.  Standard questions for someone that looked like they had been used as a punching bag.

“Hmm, do you know who Ichigo’s domestic partner is?” he asked.

Renji stopped.  “Ah, no.  He’s never talked about it with me, just changes the subject when we talk about dating or relationships.”

The man sighed.  “Ichigo says he was mugged, that someone jumped him and took his wallet and phone.”

Renji nodded slowly.  “But, that doesn’t sound right, if he was mugged why didn’t he go home?  He was in the hallway outside his apartment.”

The doctor arched a delicate pink brow.  “He has signs of long term abuse.  This is not his first broken bone, and from the look, he has several that were casted poorly and healed badly.  He has bruises and scarring that cover him everywhere except his neck, face, forearms and hands.  The bruise on his face is a striking exception to that.”

The thoughts took a long moment to process.  “So, he’s being abused?  By who?”

Szayel sighed.  “Generally, this type comes from domestic partners or spouses.  There are obvious signs of sexual trauma, some very recent and a lot older.  Whoever this kid is with is bad news, and he is refusing to say anything to me about it.  All he says is that he was mugged. I have already put in the paperwork with the police, and I suggest that you take him with you when he is discharged if he will allow it.  I would prefer him not to return to such an environment.”

Renji swallowed.  Who would hurt him like that?  He was such a nice kid, always smiling and helping people, and never said a cross word.  “He’s barely twenty years old, how long could he have possibly been going through this?”

The doctor thought.  “I don’t know, but some of the breaks are at least two or three years old. Unless he wants to tell us what happened, there’s nothing we can do.”

“How is he now?”

“He has three fractured ribs, one of which punctured his lung.  We’ll have to take him in to surgery to fix the problem and hopefully he’ll be released in a week’s time.  He’ll be going into surgery in a couple hours.  He’s been given a sedative for now, and I’d like him to rest.”

The doctor turned and left, leaving Renji and Grimmjow gaping.  Grimmjow looked at him.

“He’s been working there with you for the last two years, man, how did you not notice this shit?” he asked, eyeing his red headed roommate.

Renji shook his head.  “He hides it well.  Like he said, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a bruise on his face.  I mean, he’s a weird kid, wears long-sleeves and pants all year round, but I just thought it was his preference.  Come to think of it, he’s never come out with us, no matter how many times we invite him…”

Grimmjow suddenly elbowed him in the ribs.  “What?” he said, looking up.

Entering Ichigo’s room was a tall, thin man with very hollow features and greasy black hair.  He just looked ill, almost.  Ichigo had been left in one of the glass front rooms, and both Renji and Grimmjow moved closer until they could hear soft voices inside.

“Why the fuck are you in here?” the thin, pale skinned man asked.  “I got a call from the receptionist saying you’d been brought in.  I told you that I was done with you for the day, and I had to get out of bed and come up here to sign for some stupid shit.”

Ichigo gasped.  “You broke my ribs, and one punctured my lung,” he said looking away from him with slow blinking eyes. 

The man stared down at him.  “I guess I can’t be angry about that.”

Ichigo looked up at him smiling, eyes hopeful.  “You mean that?  I’m glad.”

Renji and Grimmjow stood just outside the viewing range of Ichigo, just past the partially opened door.

“How did you get here?” the tall man asked.  They heard an audible gulp.

“I called a friend because I was hurting,” he said quietly.  “I thought I was dying and I didn’t want to die like this because you’d get in trouble and the cops might have come and found…” Ichigo began, running on due to the pain medications and sedatives when he normally wouldn’t have.

“Since when do you have fuckin’ friends to call?  I told you that you weren’t allowed to have any, and no one you should fuckin’ remember a number of,” he said, and Grimmjow and Renji both heard the anger creeping into his voice.

Ichigo backpedaled.  “He’s not a friend, just a guy from work, he gave me his number in case I needed a ride to work…and…”

“You fuckin’ know better.  You fuckin’ walk to your job or you don’t have a fuckin’ job and you’ll be cuffed to the bed for a week again like the last fuckin’ time you pulled this shit.”

“Okay, Ronny, okay, I’m sorry, it won’t…”  Ichigo said, and his voice cracked a little.

“You’re fuckin’ crying?  Again?  You know the results of that, it pisses me off, and you’ll get them when you get home.  If you’re fuckin’ lucky I won’t send you back with worse than a few broken ribs.”

They heard Ichigo swallow hard.  “Ronny, I’m sorry, it’s just I don’t feel good and…”

“Don’t fuckin’ bitch, it’s completely your own damn fault you’re here.  You’re too fuckin’ weak, that’s why.  Don’t fuckin’ talk to anyone.  Don’t fuckin’ breathe on anyone, or I’ll come back and snap your neck and take my prize, and then get the others that I want.”

Renji and Grimmjow moved down a little and looked to be talking as the man exited the room, glancing around. He had to stand almost six four or five.  Renji bit his lip as he saw his roommate shake in anger.

Grimmjow took a deep breath to steady himself.  “That asshole has to be in his thirties.  What the hell is that kid doing with him?”

They waited a while and heard sniffing in the room behind them, and then when they were sure he was gone, both went in.  Ichigo looked up, his eyes red rimmed.  He swallowed.

“Thanks for helping me, but you gotta go, now, okay?” he said glancing up nervously out the glass doors.

“No fucking way,” Renji said.  “What the hell is going on?”

Ichigo didn’t say anything, only stared at his hands.  “Who was that guy?” Renji continued.

“Aaroniero, Ronny, he’s my boyfriend,” he said softly.  “I live with him in the apartment.” 

Grimmjow frowned.  “How long have you been seeing that asshole?”

Ichigo shrugged.  “I guess about four or five years now…”

Renji and Grimmjow glanced at each other.  “Ichigo, you’re only like twenty, and that guy is at least thirty.”

He looked up at them.  “He’s twenty-eight, actually,” he said quietly.

“Why are you with him?” Renji asked slowly.

Ichigo looked up, his eyes wide and throat working to try and talk.  “I deserve him,” he said quietly.  “So I stay because I deserve him.  It’s my punishment for what I’ve done.”

Renji and Grimmjow exchanged a look. “If you were fuckin’ like fifteen when you started ‘seeing’ him, how is that possible, there is no reason for a kid that young to deserve to be raped and beaten on a daily fuckin’ basis,” Grimmjow said, eliciting a shudder from the kid in front of him.

“Just go, please,” he whispered and turned over, closing his eyes.  “I’m fine, I always am.  Just go away.”

The roommates left.  They said nothing until they got to the car, a bright red Malibu that belonged to Renji.  Grimmjow looked at him.  “What the fuck is a twenty four year old man doing getting in a fifteen year old kid’s pants?”

Renji looked up with an arched brow.  “I don’t know, but I’m fucking going to find out.”

Renji had his reasons that he couldn’t let this go.  He wasn’t ready to tell Grimmjow why just yet, but he saw that there was a look of agreement on Grimmjow’s face.  It seemed that Grimmjow had his own reasons to want to figure out what was happening as well.  Renji didn’t care what those reasons were.  He just wanted to do something about this.


	2. Torment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story in complete rewrite!!! If you haven't read the new first chapter, please do so!

 

It was always hard, especially after his mom died.  Ichigo kept getting into fights.  At first it was stupid stuff, like he didn’t dye his hair.  Everyone thought he should so he’d quit getting picked on by people for the flaming orange color.  But he was stubborn, and his mom always said she loved his hair.  So it was at fourteen, and he was fighting off five street thugs at one time.  He’d already taken out two of them, but now they’d drawn knives and he wasn’t sure how to deal with that.  They were probably at least eighteen or nineteen.  Why they thought jumping a fifteen year old was a good idea, Ichigo didn’t know.

Then something odd happened.  This man with short black hair came out of nowhere and scared them away.  He was handsome; he had beautiful turquoise eyes and a beautiful smile.  He reached his hand down and helped him up.  Ichigo had smiled and thanked him.  He introduced himself as Kaien Shiba, and asked if Ichigo would like to go for coffee or something.  Ichigo felt heat rising to his cheeks but he accepted. 

Kaien was older than him by several years, he was nineteen, and was a student at the local college.  He was going to school to get a teaching degree.  He was sweet.  He made Ichigo feel wanted and when Ichigo asked if they could be more, Kaien had smiled and shook his head, telling him he was too young to go any further than dinner and movies.  But in about three years, Kaien said that he would be willing to take him into his life for good.  Ichigo had been happy.

Then, one day, Kaien didn’t come to the coffee shop after he got out of school.  He started to worry when he hadn’t heard anything for a week.  His friends asked what had happened since he seemed upset all of a sudden.  He couldn’t tell them he’d been seeing an older man.  What would they think of him?

Ichigo kept going to the coffee shop, though, hoping that he’d come back.  And one day, he was elated to see him sitting in their booth.  He had been overjoyed until he sat down and found himself across the table from someone completely different.  He looked like Kaien, a little.  His hair was cut the same way, but his face was drawn and his eyes were hallowed and dingy colored.  Ichigo started to leave by he said to wait because he was Kaien’s brother, Ronny, and Kaien had sent him.

Ichigo had relaxed and they started to talk.  Kaien had never mentioned a brother, at least not one named Ronny. He had a sister named Kukaku, and a brother named Ganju, but he never spoke on them often.  He guessed it could have been possible, as this Ronny did look similar to Kaien.  He stayed and came back the next day again.  He slipped easily into the same routines he’d had with Kaien, but there was one difference.  Ronny wasn’t deterred by his age.  Ichigo wasn’t really comfortable with it, but he didn’t want to be rude, after all, Ronny was telling Kaien what was happening.  Kaien had to go take care of their mother for a few months.

A month or so later, Ronny had taken Ichigo to a nice restaurant to tell him something really important, and it was very enjoyable.  Halfway through desert, though, Ichigo was feeling very sick and time skipped around in a strange way.  He soon blinked and was staring up at Ronny.  He couldn’t move, his arms and legs both tied down.  He begged him to let him go, begged him to tell him why he was doing it.  Then he showed him.  He showed him the jar.  Ichigo knew exactly what was in the jar.  Kaien’s eyes, Kaien’s unmistakable turquoise eyes, floated gently inside a jar wrapped with a blue ribbon around the seal.  Ichigo screamed but Ronny gagged him and told him that he had beautiful eyes too, eyes that he wanted to keep forever.  Ichigo was sure he was dead.  But then, Ronny sat down and cupped his face and told him he wanted to keep them intact, and not inside a jar.  He had to stay.  He had to be his, mind, body, and soul.  Otherwise, Ronny said with a grin, Ichigo’s sisters had such lovely eyes as well, and they would be very easy to get to.

Ichigo tried to fight him, but he was unable to as he used him that first night.  The drugs in his mind helped with some of the pain, but not the knowledge of what was happening.  The next morning, he woke and hid in the bathroom, sobbing hysterically.  What was he going to do?  He would kill his sisters, he would go after them.  What if he went to the police and they didn’t believe him?  Why would they believe a kid?  They wouldn’t.  They wouldn’t even listen to what he had to say.  And sweet Kaien!  Why would this man have done something so terrible to him?  Ichigo didn’t understand, and he didn’t want to understand.

So it began.  After school Ichigo would meet with him, and soon his friends realized he was pulling away.  Ichigo was beginning to never stay after, and had taken to eating his meals alone.  His friends let him do it.  He’d always been a little odd, so it wasn’t so strange.  But a couple teachers took a pointed interest, and tried to coax out of Ichigo what was happening.  They’d noticed the changes.  He wore long sleeves now, and refused to dress out in gym his final year, giving them a doctor’s note saying he was asthmatic, though he never coughed.  And they caught the bruising when his clothes would slip, showing his back.  But they couldn’t do anything if he didn’t talk.  They’d gone to his dad, of course fearing that child abuse was at play, but his dad revealed he never came home that often.  And when he did he avoided talking to any of them.  But he was gone, and never any answers were found by the prying teachers or even his father.

His father had confronted him, and in the end had driven him away, allowing him to move in with his boyfriend.  He had no idea where he was and didn’t have number for him and no control.  So now, outside a building labeled Kurosaki Clinic, a man with bright red hair and a man with soft baby blue hair stood knocking.

“Can I help you?” a dark haired man said at the door.

“You Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo’s dad, right?” Renji asked, hesitantly.

At the sound of his son’s name he stepped back and ushered them both in.  “Please, do you have news?  Is he okay?  Do you know where he is?  Let me get some tea…”

In a moment they were seated in a small table in the clinic’s foyer with tea as the man watched with hopeful eyes.

“It’s been almost three years since he left, are you his friends?” he asked.

“My name is Renji Abarai, and this is my roommate Grimmjow Jagerjaquez.  I guess we’re friends with your son…” Renji said thoughtfully.

The man’s face fell.  “Still, huh?  I don’t think he’s had a friend one since his mother died.”

“Well, Dr. Kurosaki…”

“Isshin, please,” he corrected.

“Isshin, what’s the deal with him?  I mean, I guess I’ll tell you what happened, but he called me up a couple nights ago to help him.  And he told the hospital he was mugged.  But they didn’t believe him.  And neither did I,” he said softly.

The older man nodded, letting out a sigh.  “No surprise it’s still going on.  I couldn’t stop it before; I don’t know how to get him to quit blaming himself.”

Renji and Grimmjow exchanged a look.  “Blaming himself?”

Isshin nodded.  “See, when he was twelve, his mom and him were held up by an armed robber.  Ichigo tried to take the gun, because the guy was going to shoot them since Masaki didn’t have money to give him.  In the struggle, the gun went off, killing his mother.  And he blamed himself from that day forward.”

“So who is this Aaroniero?” Grimmjow asked with a tightening working its way through the entirety of his body.

Isshin swallowed.  “I…I wish I knew how it happened.  I didn’t know about him until it was too late for me to do anything.  He stopped coming home after school when he was fourteen.  And he got distant, refusing to engage in conversations.  His friends, he pushed them away, starting fights and pushing them until they refused to even speak with him.  I took him to a counselor, you know.  And she said he was working through grief and guilt, and I needed to give him space.  So I did.  But then when he was seventeen he stopped coming home at all.  He barely finished school, and I had visits from the school about…about his condition.”

“His condition?” Renji asked, leaning forward.

Isshin sighed.  “Bruises, hidden, and a note from a doctor down in another city saying he had asthma and shouldn’t take gym or do anything strenuous.  He’s never had breathing problems.  They thought I was hurting him.  It didn’t take them long to figure out that I hadn’t seen him in months.  By the time we had figured it out with them, he was gone, done with school, and no one knew how to find him.”

Renji and Grimmjow exchanged glances.  “Where are his friends at now?” Renji asked, running a hand in his hair.  “I want to help him, I really do, but have you seen this fucker?

Isshin shook his head, swallowing.  “No, I just know he was living with someone.”

Grimmjow, ever quick on his feet pulled out his phone and flicked through until he found the pictures he snapped at the hospital.  He pulled up with one of the Ronny leaning over Ichigo in a rather menacing fashion, and Ichigo was clearly cringing away from him.  He handed the phone over.  “There’s a couple more, swipe left.”

Isshin swallowed hard, seeing the look on his son’s face.  No scowl graced his brow anymore; they were loose and almost soft.  His face was bruised but only a little.  But his upper arms were covered in thick bruises of various colors that peeked out from under the hospital gown.  Isshin wiped away tears that quickly formed at his eyes.  He looked up at the two men he’d just met.

“Can you help him?  I’ve still got twin daughters to take care of, and I know I wouldn’t be able to be near this…this…man without doing something I’d regret, losing my freedom and my son in the process,” Isshin asked.  “I don’t even know you, but right now you’re the closest thing I can get to help me.”

Renji didn’t have to be asked twice. “Write down anyone who might be able to help us with him and I’ll see what I can pull together.”

Grimmjow nodded then looked down. “Listen, Kurosaki, I’m not gonna tell yo what I’m doing.  If things go bad, I don’t want you involved, for the two girls you got okay?  So don’t ask me no questions because I’ll answer them.  I got connections and if I use ‘em, there won’t be no coming back for me, and maybe him.  You gonna be okay with that?”

Isshin looked up, pain deeply etched in his brows.  “If he’s safe, and no one can hurt him, I’d let you take him to the furthest corner of the earth.”

Grimmjow nodded, getting the response he needed, and ignoring Renji’s questioning glare.  Renji didn’t know about the life he’d left behind as a teenager.  Isshin handed him a paper with several names, addresses and numbers hastily scrawled.  The first was a tailor’s shop not far away, a kid named Uryuu Ishida.  They hopped into the red car and headed out there, pulling in.  There weren’t any cars, and inside they saw a tall, thin kid with dark hair and glasses.  They got out and went in, the boy glancing up at them.

“Got something needing some tailoring on?”  he asked, looking at them curiously since they didn’t bring anything in.

      Renji shook his head.  “Nah, kid, I’m here to talk to you about your friend, Ichigo Kurosaki.”

      The boy rolled his eyes.  “Yeah, not much to talk about, he’s a prick, and I haven’t talked to him in years now.”

Grimmjow sighed and pulled out his phone absently.  Renji nodded.  “So his dad told us.  But he said you were friends once, and that you cared about him.”

The boy snorted. “Yeah, well, having your best friend turn on you and beat the living shit out of you tends to turn you off.”

Renji felt the heat rising.  This kid wasn’t much younger than him, but he still felt it.  “And you didn’t think that was fuckin’ weird as fuck?”

The dark haired boy froze and looked up at him, swallowing convulsively.  Renji continued.  “Who in their right mind turns on all their friends, and pushes them all away and then just fuckin’ disappears from a family that cares about them?  Do you know anyone else that does that shit?  Didn’t you ever wonder why?”

Ishida looked down at his hands. “Of course,” he said, growing angry.  “I tried for over a year!  A year!  And finally, he snapped and we ended up fighting until neither of us could stand.  And after that he wouldn’t talk to me at all.  What was I supposed to do?”

Grimmjow growled. “Maybe figure out what was going on,” he said handing his phone to the kid.  The same picture, Aaroniero leaning over him, and Ichigo cringing away, arms covered in bruises, looked up at his friend.

“What?” he said softly.  “Who is that guy and what’s wrong with Ichi, is he in the hospital?”

“That is the fucker who has been causing all the problems since he was fuckin’ with him at sixteen.  You’re tellin’ me you never saw this asshole?” Renji asked as Ishida flicked to the next picture, this one showing Ichigo sleeping and taken after he thought Renji and Grimmjow had left.  Renji had pulled open his gown and snapped a picture of the mess of his chest and ribs.

“He had broken ribs and a punctured lung.  He called me gasping and I found him outside his apartment, swearing he’d been mugged wearing an oversized shirt and nothin’ else,” Renji said, scowling away, letting the words lay as they had, wondering if the kid would pick up on the obvious without being told explicitly.

The kid was sharp, though, his eyes snapping up to shift between Renji and Grimmjow.  “What? How long?”

Renji sighed.  “You tell me when he stopped acting right.  And that’s when I bet this started.”

Ishida gasped, flicking to the next picture, which had been a picture of the strange looking man at fault for his once best friend’s condition.  He was a slender man, but tall and imposing.  Ichigo had never been big, but he had been strong and fast, built like a swimmer.  The next picture was a shot of his friend staring out the window, looking away from the counter, and he was crying, but obviously trying not to, his teeth sunk into his bottom lip.

“But…but he was fifteen when he started acting weird…and that guy….”

“Would have been twenty three at the time,” Grimmjow finished.  “And from the way he looks, something tells me this pedophile didn’t take no for an answer then.  And if you think I am sure you can pinpoint the exact time this bastard raped him the first time.”

“My god, we were so stupid,” he whispered, handing the phone back.  “He’d been getting into fights a lot, then stopped all of a sudden.  Then he was so happy, and kept saying he had stuff to do after school, and at first we were cool with it, thinking he’d found a girlfriend or something.  But then when we’d ask what was going on, he’d snap at us telling us it wasn’t any of our business.”

He reached up and took off his glasses to rub his nose.  “Then this one day during the summer we ran into him at the park, sitting swinging by himself, and wouldn’t talk at all.  Just kept to himself and anytime anyone got near him, he’d move away.    He said he was fine and that he didn’t want us to be around him.  And that was when he started wearing jeans year round, and long sleeved shirts…it was right after he turned fifteen.”

The boy looked sick as he stumbled back into a stool behind the counter.  “I…oh god if we’d paid attention…” he said softly.

“Look kid, you want to help him now or not?” Renji asked suddenly, causing Ishida’s head to snap up.  “He’s in the hospital until the end of the week.  Go see him.  Get the friends he had before, go see him.  Make him talk to you.  He can’t push you away.  Grimm and I will be there tomorrow most the day, that way if the bastard shows up we can let you know and you can leave before he comes up there.  You do _not_ want to see this guy.  And I’m afraid of what he’ll do to Ichigo if he catches someone else talking to him.”

They left the young man to contemplate things and headed back to their apartment.  Grimmjow’s anger was barely contained at this point as he imagined everything he wanted to do that bastard.  And he knew several other people who would be willing to help.  His hand went to his back where a gothic six in black stood out against white skin.  Sexta would have to revive his position, and he knew once he did, there was no going back to a normal life again.

He pulled out a case in his closet and set it up on the coffee table as Renji stood back and watched.  Grimmjow looked up at his friend.  “Look man, I gotta ask you, you sure you want in this?  There ain’t no turning back once I make this call.  If you ain’t sure, leave and go out to eat or something.  But being here, it will draw your ass in, along with that kid, and that’s all there is to it.  You may never be able to come back here again.”

Renji nodded.  There was something about the set of Grimmjow’s face that made Renji want to continue with this, whatever it was.  “I ain’t got no ties man, on with this shit.”

Grimmjow nodded, pulling out several burn phones and set them up in a line, connecting them to a receiver that auto cycled through the phones when a trace was detected.  He blessed all that was holy that a genius like Urahara had come up with this easy to use set up.

A familiar voice answered.  “Urahara’s Candy, can I help you?”

“Urahara.” He said simply.

There were a couple of clicks and buzzes.  “Grimmjow, I’m here, what is it?”

“I’m going to need a favor, and in return, I’ll come back.”

There was a sound like an excited squeal.  “Oh, Grimmy, you make me the happiest shopkeeper in the world!”

He snorted.  “Don’t call me that, hat’n’clog.  I’m bringing in two under my wing, and one is the reason for my favor.”

There was a long pause as the cell phones cycled.  “Well, two?  That’s a bit much, but I can see what Old Man Yama said.  You really want to do this?  You wanted out so bad, Sexta, after your sister…”

“I know that, bastard.  But I got a kid who’s in a shit load of trouble with a bastard that I’m pretty sure is under Aizen’s wing,” he said simply.

“Oh, that could be difficult, Grimm, you know what it was like when you flipped…”

“Urahara I don’t give a shit.  This guy is a fucking pedophile and deserves to die in the most gruesome way possible for what he’s been doing to this kid for the last four years.”

“Then go to the regular cops and keep this out of our business…”

“He’s twenty now, not shit they can do anymore, and he’s too scared and wrapped up in the bastard to ever talk.”

“Send me anything you got, the usual, if you got pictures, anything, I’ll put one of the boys on it.  You sure you want this?  They want this?”

Grimmjow sighed. “Kid ain’t gonna want it, but his dad is fine with whatever I do to get him away from this guy.”

“Even when you have to disappear for the heat to die down?”

“Even then, Urahara.  Sent you all the pictures I had, you get them?”

Considering the sharp intake of breath on the other end, he guessed he had.  “Okay I see what’s going on.  Okay, no more questions, Grimm.  I’ll meet you at the hospital tomorrow and see what I got by then.”

He clicked the machine off and looked at Renji. “So I guess you’re wonderin’ what the fuck is goin’ on, eh?”

Renji nodded.  Grimmjow leaned back.  “Me and my sis, Nel, used to be part of a gang headed by this prick on a power trip named Aizen.  There were ten of us in the top level, of which I was the sixth, and Nel the third.  We each ran branches of the operation.  Heh, we called each branch an aspect of death because that’s what we brought about with us.  Destruction was my gig.  Explosives, guns, anything like that.  One guy ran drugs, one ran sex, one ran alcohol, one gambling, you get the idea.  But Nel started having second thoughts, and wanted out.  They beat her within an inch of her life, sending her into a coma for weeks.  When she woke up she had the mind of a child, and couldn’t remember anything that happened.  I had to put her in a special facility because I couldn’t take care of her on my own.  So I wanted out.”

He cleared his throat.  “But I decided to get out with help.  So I went to this candy shop, met that guy Urahara, works for a gang busting branch of the FBI that calls themselves the Shinigami.  I know, pretentious, calling themselves death gods, huh?  Anyway, he extracted me, and I worked for him.  Finally I just wanted out and that’s how I got here, after they faked my death for Aizen.  It’s been a few years.  But if I take this up, I can’t ‘die’ again.  I’ll be full on working to bring the bastard down because you either work for him, or against him.”

Renji nodded.  “Fuck, if this fucker lets assholes like Ronny run around, I want to fuckin’ take his head off.”


	3. Blue Haze

Chapter Three

Blue Haze

Brothers take care of their siblings.  That was just the way it was.  But sometimes, it was hard to do when size makes a big difference.  A kid can’t do much to protect his sister and brother from an enraged adult, especially if that adult is their father.  And for the little boy with the soft baby blue hair that sat crying again, clutching his little sister and brother in fear, that was the problem.  They’d hidden in the closet from the monster they called daddy.  And the little boy named Grimmjow was so scared he couldn’t really breathe.

His sister Nel was crushed in his grip on the right, and his little brother Kaien on the left.  Grimmjow was eight and the big brother, so he had to take care of six year old Nel and five year old Illfordt.  The rumbling and yelling had died down, his father taking out his drunken rage on their mother, no doubt.  Grimmjow himself was sporting a bloody lip from being cuffed for stepping between him and Illfordt.  Grimmjow had no idea why he seemed to want to hurt the youngest of their number so much.

He petted the crying five-year-old’s soft, blonde hair.  He was trying to keep him quiet, but the fear was steadily getting to them all.  They’d never seen their foster father like this.  He was destroying the house, destroying everything.

Then it was a blur as the doorway snatched open and a thick hand shot out and grabbed the blonde haired boy by the top of his hair.  He screamed and Grimmjow pushed Nel behind him and leaped out, trying to grab his little brother out of the man’s grasp.  Instead a kick connected with his head, sending him flying into the wall behind him.  He watched as his brother was tossed to the side, and he didn’t move, didn’t cry, and Grimmjow knew something was wrong.  Something was very wrong with his little brother, and he couldn’t even get his feet under him to check on him.

Then he was being lifted by the back of his neck and he was kicking and screaming. He saw Nel cringing in the closet as he was thrown down to the floor and the larger man laid into him, punching the small boy soundly.  All he could do was cry out for his brother, screaming his name until the blackness consumed his vision and he vaguely heard sirens.

So it began.  House to house, home to home.  Their first foster father was put away for child neglect, abuse, endangerment and for the death of their brother and their foster mother that night.  Foster parents paraded before the two siblings and eventually it was the streets that welcomed them.  A friendly hand up to a gang came their way, and then they were caught in the life that led to Nel’s injury.

“Nel,” he said to the tall, buxom green haired woman that bounced around the small apartment style room.

“Bwudder!” she called and embraced him.  “Nel so happy to see you!  How you now, Gwimmy?” she said with a grin.

“Doing good, Nelly, I brought you some coloring books and some pictures,” he said fondly.

She grabbed the bag looking every bit like the five year old child he remembered before the world turned upside down.  It was so strange, looking at her now.  A child lost in a woman’s body.  There was no sure answer for her case.  No one could say whether she would ever regain the memories of her life or even realize she wasn’t a child.  They said it wasn’t organic, that it had to do with psychological trauma.  And until she passed it, if she ever did, this was her life.

“Hey, Nelly, I’m going to be out of town for a while, helping a new friend of mine, okay?”  he said softly, watching her excitedly coloring a picture of a princess and a castle in the new book.  “You think you’ll be okay?  I’ll leave Shinji’s number if you need anything and I’m sure he and Hiyori will come visit you.”

“Who is Gwimmy’s friend?” she asked curiously. 

He smiled.  “He’s a funny orange haired kid named Ichigo.”

She nodded.  “Does Nel get to meet Itsygo?”

He smiled again.  “Maybe soon, Nelly.  First I gotta help him if that’s okay,” he said gently, sitting on the chair.

She looked lost in thought.  “Okay, Gwimmy help Itsygo, Nel wait for him to come visit!”

The rest of the visit went normally, and Grimmjow left word with the nurses and doctors that he would be unreachable for a while.  He just said it was work related, and gave them the number of the people that would help if something happened while he was away.

He wandered then.  So much had happened, and now he thought he was passed it all.  But something about that boy, battered like that, under the thumb of such a violent man, it just reminded him of those days.  And he wanted to get between Ichigo and those hands that threatened to hurt him, just like little Illfordt. 

He looked up, realizing he had come to the cemetery, and was standing at the graves of his brother and mother.  He sighed.  Yoshino hadn’t been their real mother, of course.  She and her husband, Go Koga had adopted the three of them when they were very little.  And at first, things were good.  Then, work and alcohol piled up on their foster father, and Yoshino took the brunt of it.  She did her best, and she was forever their mother, even if she didn’t give birth to any of them.

“Hey, mom, Illfordt, I know I promised I was out, but this kid, he needs some help.  And I gotta do it, you understand, right?  I can’t just leave it when I have the power to help him.  I don’t know if anyone else can, you know?  It’s my old life coming back to haunt me, and all those things I did.  But if I save someone now, you think it makes up for all the ones I ignored or couldn’t save?”

He leaned against the tree he was standing near and thought about his mom’s open face, loving every one of them, and Illfordt’s childish laughter and bright eyes.  He just wished the kid had been able to grow up with them.  And then Nel.  He felt tears pricking at his eyes but ignored them.  He really had lost everyone.  And yet here he was begging them to forgive him for becoming what he had tried so hard to get rid of.  Maybe it was because that bastard Ronny’s attitude reminded him of his foster father.  Maybe it was because he saw that same desperation in Ichigo’s eyes that he had seen in his own eyes. 

“Shit, I dunno what’s wrong with me.  I tried to get out so much, now this.  Maybe it’s something I’m just supposed to do, save him even though I couldn’t save you two?” he thought, still having trouble recalling the fact he was eight fucking years old and there wasn’t a thing he could have done.  But it didn’t stop him wondering.  A knife, if he’d found one, or broken glass…

He shook the thoughts away and headed back to the apartment.  He stopped, picking up some fresh glazed donuts and coffee for Renji and himself and headed over to the hospital.  Renji would already be there.  He wasn’t sure exactly why Renji had become embroiled in this mess.  He surely didn’t expect his younger roommate to jump at the chance to intercede on someone else’s behalf.  But then, who was he to judge the red head’s motivations?  To the outside, why did Grimmjow care?  He sighed heavily and made his way to the waiting room closest to Ichigo’s room to watch.  He smiled, Renji already sitting there engaged in conversation with the dark haired kid from the tailor shop.

“Hey, kid, didn’t know you’d be here, woulda brought an extra coffee,” he said, handing Renji one and dropping the bag of donuts.  “But have a donut if you want.”

The kid nodded, taking one.  “There’s a couple others coming too, here soon I think.  I hope they come.”

After a few minutes a very short dark haired woman came in with her arms locked with a taller strawberry blonde with huge breasts.  Grimmjow arched a brow at the pair, almost opposite in every way.  Both attractive, but in different ways.  Beside them a very tall young man with darker skin followed.  He watched as they made their way to Ishida, and fixed Renji and Grimmjow with curious stares.

“Rukia, these are the two men that came to ask about Ichigo,” Ishida said and motioned to them.  The small woman stalked over to them and eyed them with a furious glare.

“What is going on, he didn’t tell us anything, just said to meet him here,” she said sternly, eyeing them both, her gaze resting a little longer on Renji. 

“I assume you are all Ichigo’s old friends?” Grimmjow said, leaning back and pulling out his phone, flicking to the pictures from the day before.

She let out a frustrated sigh. “Yeah, until he decided he didn’t need us anymore.”

Renji frowned and shook his head.  “That’s a shame because it was about then he needed you more than ever.”

The three new arrivals exchanged looks and Grimmjow handed over the phone.  “Flick through the first few, you’ll get the idea.”

“Who is this guy?” the strawberry blond said softly.

“Same guy that he’s been ‘seeing’ since he was fourteen or fifteen, fuckin’ pedophile piece of shit,” Renji said, staring at the floor.

“You remember when we found him in the park, when he started pushing us away and getting into fights?” Ishida said softly.  “When he changed so much we didn’t know him anymore?”

“D-does, wait, pedophile?” Rukia said.  “You mean, you think he…”

Grimmjow shook his head.  “No, we’re pretty damn sure after the state he was in when Renji brought him in.”

“Chad, did you even think something was going on?” she asked, turning to the taller one.

“He just changed, wouldn’t talk.  Not that we talked a lot when we hung out.  But I asked, and he just left,” the large boy said.

Ishida stood up and put an arm around the girl with long strawberry blonde hair.  “Orihime, now please, don’t cry,” he said softly.  “We’re here to talk to him.  We want him away from this now that we know about it.”

Grimmjow nodded.  “You guys see if you can talk to him at all.  I don’t know if it will help, but we got to convince him that he needs to want to leave the bastard.  I can help him, but it won’t be easy.”

The four left to go speak with him.  A minute later an eccentric blond man in Japanese geta and a bucket hat striped white and green clomped into the area.  He smiled at the two men.  “Sexta, and is this one of your friends?”

“Renji Abarai,” the red head said, standing up to shake the man’s hand.

“Kisuke Urahara, simple candy shop owner,” he said, bowing to him. He turned to Grimmjow.

“You’re sure about this?  There’s no going back.  That is unless you kill Aizen this time,” he said sighing. 

Grimmjow nodded. “I gotta do something, I can’t let him suffer.  It wouldn’t have happened either if we’d taken Aizen down five years ago when I flipped.”

Renji frowned.  “What do you mean?”

Urahara nodded.  “I hate to say it but the man is one of Aizen’s lieutenants.  So this will get sticky.”

“Who’s this Aizen guy, and what do you mean this would have been avoided?” Renji asked, frowning.

Urahara sat down beside him and lowered his voice.  “Aizen runs a gang of sorts, I’m sure that Grimmjow here told you that.  This guy runs a branch.  I still have my contacts.  Hal is still under and reports back and there are others.  We tried a major operation on him almost five years ago.  Almost did it, but he slipped away.  We disrupted distribution for several months, but it seems that this guy, Aaroniero was brought, and apparently, not long after came into contact with the kid you’re trying to help.  Aizen allowed him his dalliance, provided he never got caught with it.”

“That’s some sick and twisted shit,” Renji said softly.

“These people are not out to make friends,” Urahara said softly.

Grimmjow sighed again.  “What are our options?”

“Get him to agree, then we can hide him in the shop’s basement for a while. You’ll have to go with him, too, otherwise…” Urahara said.

“I’m working on that part,” Grimmjow said, nodding toward the room with the four people surrounding the bed, all of them talking to him and trying to convince him that he needed to get out of the situation.  I hope they can have an…” Grimmjow’s head snapped up, having clear view of the hallway.  “He’s here.”

Renji nodded, pulling out his phone and sending a text.  “Scatter.”

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ishida wasn’t sure what to expect when he entered the room with the other three.  Ichigo was laying on his side, still hooked up to the IV and oxygen and all sorts of monitors.  He didn’t move when they came into the room. 

“Ichigo?” he said quietly.

Ichigo flinched, then turned over slowly to blink at them.  “What?  Why are you here?  Get out of here!” he said, sitting up, and looking around quickly, wincing at the pain in his body despite the morphine.  “You can’t be here.”

“Ichigo, please, you have to stop this.  Look at you!” Orihime said, moving toward him slowly.

Ichigo shook his head.  “I’m not doing anything.  You need to leave.”

Rukia moved up beside him and touched his arm where fading fingerprints could be seen.  She looked at him and she saw the tears in his eyes for a second.  “Ichi, please.  What happened?”

Ichigo wanted them to go away, to leave him alone.  “I fell in love, and then he left, and Ronny was there when he was gone,” he said quietly.  “I needed someone.”

Chad hadn’t spoke, only stood at the doorway and watched.  Ichigo couldn’t look at Chad.  How could he?  Chad as strong and wouldn’t have needed help.  He swallowed and shook his head, but they were all around him.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Ishida asked quietly.

Ichigo swallowed and reached up to adjust the stupid thing in his nose.  “What was I going to say?  I got mixed up in something bad, and if you stuck around you’d get hurt?”

“Why would we get hurt?” Orihime asked quietly.

“Because he’s psychotic!” Ichigo said before he clamped his hands over his mouth, not believing what he’d just said out loud.

Ishida exchanged glances with the others.  “Are you scared to leave him, Ichigo?”

Ichigo held his hands over his mouth.  Apparently, morphine made him speak up more.  Great.  He shook his head.

“Ichigo, tell me the truth,” Rukia said reaching out to take his hand gently away.  He chewed his lip for a moment.

“If he knows about you he’ll use you.  He’ll th-threaten me, to kill you…like the others…” he whispered and stared at his hands intently.

“The others?” Rukia said.

“He likes eyes,” Ichigo said.  “He has these jars of eyes…”

Ishida’s phone beeped loudly.  He was coming.  All four exited the room quickly, moving down the hallway so they could see and hear but far enough that it looked like they were talking outside another patient’s room.

Urahara was still surprised to see the hulking man even if he had seen pictures.  The man was positively beastly.  And had an air of authority that could only come from stepping on people below him.  They got up and joined the four teens at their position, taking some papers and looking like they were going over them.

“Ronny!” Ichigo’s voice nearly squeaked.

“They do the surgery you supposedly needed?” came the gruff response.

A nervous cough.   “Yeah, this morning early.  Still hard to breathe, but…”  There was a light gasp.  “Stop, that’s going to bruise…”

“So?  You’re already in the hospital.  And you haven’t said shit about me, right?”

“No! No, of course not, Ronny, I’d never…ah, please…let go.”

There was a frantic pant and then he started to breath normally again.  “If I hear otherwise…”

“Why would I do that to you, Ronny?  You’re everything to me.  I can’t live without you!”

There was a snort.  “Of course you can’t live without me, you’re pathetic and damn worthless. If it weren’t for me, you’d be whoring on the street corner by now, wouldn’t you?”

There was pained choke.  “You fuckin’ going to cry again? What’d I tell you?”  A gasping again.

“Ow…come on…you’re gonna break it…stop…”

“I told you, I’d give you a real thing to cry about, now keep your mouth fuckin’ shut, and if I see you talkin’ to anyone but nurses and shit, you’ll pay the price, understand me?  And if that fuckin’ ‘friend’ of yours from work is ever seen again, I’ll break every one of your fingers, and send him the bill.  Got it?”

“Yes, just stop…ah! Fuck you broke it, goddamn it, how am I going to explain this to the doctor?”

“You caught your hand in the rail, you dumb fuck, so fuckin’ clumsy.”

“Yeah.  Clumsy.”

It took everything Renji and Grimmjow both had to not run in there and drag the scrawny, sick looking bastard out and beat the shit out of him right there.  But they couldn’t.  Not with his connections.  He put a hand on Ishida who had looked up.  He glanced back down at the paperwork.  Normally, Grimmjow and Renji might have worried about being seen twice.  However, it was a hospital, on a floor and not the ER.  So it was certainly not unusual to see the same people several times.

After he was gone a moment a nurse went into the room.

“Mr. Kurosaki!  What happened to your hand?” she asked alarmed.

“Just…I was trying to move…got it stuck in the rail…” he stammered.

The nurse sighed deeply.  “Come on, get in the wheel chair, we’ll have to see if you broke it or just sprained it…”

They all watched as he was wheeled out.  To be so close, and to be unable to stop it.  And of course the difficult thing was the fact how unfazed by the pain he had been.


	4. Red as Blood

 

Sometimes life works in weird ways.  So it was that a young red head with tribal tattoos was working as a barista his first year at school.  He watched the people come and go, and he actually enjoyed the job.  College could be a bore, but he’d promised his foster mother that he’d do it, and come out with a degree in the end.  He couldn’t disappoint her.  But even with school and food paid for, he had to do something with his free time so he decided to combine the need and his love of coffee into one nice package and work at a coffee shop.  It was the first time he saw her.  She was sitting alone, over in the corner, a forlorn look on her face, and sipping a caramel macchiato.  So when she came the next week, he’d spoken, and she was shy, but smiled at him.

Eventually, they had casual conversation.  She worked at a nearby office building as secretary, and she was twenty one years old, two years older than he was.  But she was married, but she never talked of her husband.  Months went by, their casual conversations, and he came to enjoy her.  She was cute, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a pert mouth.  Her name was Ashley Termon.  She’d never gone to college, but her husband found her the job.  She was fascinated by his tattoo work, and even more enamored of him when he told her he did most of them himself.  Soon, he took his breaks when she came in, enjoying talking to her about his major, criminal justice, and listening her dream about far off places like England, Africa, and Australia.

He really didn’t pay much attention to her dress, it was always cool in the shop, but one particularly hot day he asked why she wore sweaters all the time.  She smiled and said it was because the office was always so cold.  He waved it off until one day she was wearing sunglasses, and when he teased her and pulled them off, she had a black eye.  He’d asked her what had happened, to which she said she’d fallen into her doorknob, since she was so very clumsy. 

That was the beginning of the clumsiness.  Eventually, over the next year, she’d had a broken arm, a sprained ankle, and another black eye.  He was thinking it odd such a seemingly dexterous girl could be so clumsy, he’d only ever seen her move with grace and ease.  He shook it off, but soon it got to be too much.  Her episodes of clumsiness were more and more frequent, and he had a talk about it with one of his instructors.  Spousal abuse was the only answer, so he decided to confront her about it.

She had denied it, but little by little, he wore down her defenses and she told him everything.  Her husband was ten years older than her, and he had a stressful job.  They had found out that he was infertile, so his chances of having children by anyone were around zero percent.  And he was taking out all the stress and strain on her.  She told Renji that she deserved what happened because she knew what would set him off.  And so began the excuses.  And slowly, he wore her down enough to meet with his instructor.

The day after, she didn’t come to the shop.  He met with his instructor who said she’d taken the offer and had gone to a women’s facility.  Renji was sad that he wouldn’t get to see her, but he wasn’t sorry in the least.  He was relieved, and things were good for a month until she came back.

He’d asked her what happened and she said she was going away, and came to wish him farewell.  She kissed his forehead and was gone.  He was curious but he knew she was safe.  At least that’s what he had thought. 

He headed home and found the door open.  It had been jimmied, and considering his area he called the police before entering the room.  He knew that if someone was robbing his apartment, it was best to let the cops deal with it, so he waited patiently at the front of the building and told them he hadn’t touched the door even.  They thanked him, asking how he knew to call them before entering.  He laughed and told them he’d been robbed about a year before, and he’d messed up prints on the doorway without realizing what he was doing, and the thief was never caught.  He told them he’d rather get his stuff back this time if he was being robbed again.

They nodded and then entered the apartment.  After almost fifteen minutes, he got worried and called to them.  They told him to go wait for their backup.  He went downstairs to see another two cars pull up and to his surprise he was cuffed and taken to a car, read his rights.  He didn’t say anything, not really knowing what was going on.  He was taken down and sat in one of the cold rooms for a very long time.

Finally a detective came in with a folder and asked him how he knew Ashley.  He was surprised, and told him about their relationship, if one could call it that.  He put a picture out of her, but she looked pale, wrong.  He frowned and looked up, asking the question he hated to ask.  He sighed and laid down several more photos and Renji nearly fell back out of his chair, and shot backward into the wall behind him, panting, hands over his mouth as he looked at the detective.

She was dead.  Her body mutilated, her face the only thing untouched, and she was in his bed, in his apartment, laid out like some sort of sick present when he came home.  He couldn’t find his voice, the world swimming sickly as he asked who did it, who would do such a thing, and why was she in his place of all places…

Mercifully, he took away the gruesome pictures, and Renji returned to his seat and answered every question the detective had.  He had his clothes taken, his skin and hair brushed out, and nails cleaned.  He was numb, though.  How could this happen to such a nice girl?

Eventually he was released later, with instructions to stay in town and not go back to his apartment since it was a crime scene.  He stayed with his friend Shinji, and before long, he was cleared of charges.  Her husband had murdered her, thinking that Renji was her boyfriend and the one who made her leave.  He had been half right, but she’d never been more than a friend, a dear one, and one he wouldn’t have minded having as more than a friend, but she was married.  And Renji wasn’t that way.

He’d been messy, and there had been a couple bloody fingerprints located, and with the fact that there was no way Renji could have committed the murder while at work, and without leaving a hint of evidence, he was completely cleared, and the man was jailed for manslaughter.  Renji quit the job with the coffee shop, unable to even think of making another cup in his lifetime.  Shinji introduced him to Grimmjow, who was looking for a roommate, and they hit it off.

Now he sat in the dank hospital waiting room, sipping hot tea.  Grimmjow was dragging him into something, something seriously dangerous.  He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but it was going to be up to him at least to save someone.  He wouldn’t see the blood again, the blood of a person strong enough to stay, but too scared to leave.

“Ren, whatcha thinkin’ on?” Grimmjow said, flopping down beside him.

He shook his head.  “Ah, just the past.  You know what a bitch she can be, sneaking up when ya don’t want her.”

Grimmjow nodded, patting him on the back.  “Ain’t that the truth?  Ready to see if that strawberry brat will listen to reason?”

Renji grinned at the name.  “Yeah, let’s see, indeed.”

It was after visiting hours, and no one else was on the floor.  After a long discussion with his doctor, though, it was agreed that someone should stay with him. They moved silently into the room and took up positions on either side of him, Renji left, and Grimmjow right. 

“Wake up,” Renji said, shaking the boy.

“Wha?” he asked, bleary eyed and looking back and forth between them.  “What do you guys want, you shouldn’t be here…”

“Fuck that, I know what the fuck is going on, and there is no way you are fucking going to be leaving this goddamned hospital with that bastard,” Grimmjow said, his tone leaving no room for discussion.

Ichigo’s mouth opened to protest, but he looked between the two of them and sighed.  Between this and his encounter with his friends from school, he was beyond exhausted.  “I don’t want you to get hurt,” he muttered, picking at the bandage around his broken left index finger.  “Ronny, he’s scary and he’ll hurt the people I love, he’s some big shot in this gang…and he’s got connections…”

“Fuck his connections, and fuck Aizen, the bastard he’s working for,” Grimmjow said with a snarl, causing the boy to look up at him in shock.  “Yes, I fuckin’ know Aizen, used to work for the bastard and now we’re going to fuckin’ bring him down, and you’re going to help us so both of us can be free.”

Ichigo’s mouth worked but no sound would emerge.  “But…why?” he said softly.  “Why would either of you care about me?  I dragged you into this mess and I shouldn’t have done it, but I did and now…”

Renji snorted.  “Do we need a fuckin’ reason to help someone who needs it?  Look, kid, I’ve watched you deal with this without a word since I’ve been working with you.  Never a wince, never a single thing out of place until you called me.  You shouldn’t have to do this.  And maybe…maybe for me there are other reasons, but they’re my own.  So just accept it already,” he said finally.

“What did your friends have to say earlier?” Grimmjow asked, looking him over.

He swallowed.  “They wanted to hear what happened, and I…I didn’t know what to tell them.  I just…I just told them that I fell in love with a guy that helped me out with some fights, and when he was gone, Ronny helped me.  And then…things happened,”  he sighed looking away.

“I met this college kid named Kaien,” he said, sighing.  “He helped me when I got jumped and we went out a lot.  After school was done, we’d go out to have dinner.  And he was so nice, taking me to these wonderful places I’d never dreamed I’d get to see.  It was really fun and I loved it.  Then he just disappeared.  And I kept going to the coffee shop, and one day I went and I thought he was there.  It wasn’t him, it was Ronny.  He told me he was Kaien’s brother and he was helping family.  I thought it was true, and he started to spend time with me, and I knew smething was wrong, but it was Kaien’s brother…”

Ichigo swallowed.  “Then, one night, we went out and I got sick one night and then…I woke up the next morning in his bed…and he said that…that he’d hurt my sisters if I said anything to anyone about what happened.  And I didn’t remember it, really, but I hurt so much I was crying and that’s the first time he hit me, because he doesn’t like crying,” he said softly, still picking at the small cast on his finger.  “I just…I didn’t want to see my sisters get hurt so I was gonna talk to someone but when I did…this friend of mine I had made recently, he ended up d-disappearing.   Ronny…he showed me the jars then.  They had eyes in them.  And…and Kaien’s eyes were in one of them.  He’s got so many…and said that he’d put my sisters’ eyes in a jar if I ever left him…”

“So I can’t leave him, no matter what, he’ll…”

Grimmjow reached out and grabbed his hand, and shook his head.  “No, fuck that.  You’re leaving tomorrow, with us.  And that’s what is going to happen.  Your dad, your sisters, and friends will be there when we get there, and we’re going to figure out what to do.  And that’s all there is.  You won’t talk to the cops, and that’s fine.  They won’t do shit about this anyway.  But us, that’s another matter.”

Ichigo looked between them, a pained expression on his face.  “But…but…how…”

“Shut up, strawberry.  Go to sleep,” Grimmjow said with a shake of his head.

Ichigo didn’t know how to react.  So he laid back and did just that.  His brain was in overload mode anyway.

The next morning, he signed off on all his paperwork, and before seven am he was wheeled down to the parking garage entrance, and ushered into a red car he vaguely remembered riding in to the hospital.  Before long he was riding another elevator, leaning heavily on Grimmjow.  He was still slightly doped up on morphine, but the pain in his side was coming back again.  He was led to the couch and sighed as the pressure was off his ribcage.  He thanked them profusely, but still worried as he heard his phone buzz repeatedly.  They refused to give it to him, though; after all there was only one person who would text him.

Grimmjow and Renji sat at the table, listening to the buzz every five minutes it seemed until they couldn’t stand it.  Grimmjow picked up the phone, swiped across it and saw the messages were from the same contact, Ron.  He grimaced and opened it.

_Ron: The fuck are you?  They checked you out this morning._

_Ron: If you don’t fuckin’ answer me you pathetic piece of shit, I’m going to rip out your lung this time instead of puncturing it._

_Ron: If you don’t answer, I’ll head to see your sisters.  What do you think they’d think about me?_

Grimmjow glanced at Renji, who looked up as the bell rang.  Good thing, too.  He looked up and saw Isshin enter quietly, two girls, one dark haired one brown haired, following.  Grimmjow got up and grabbed Isshin and pulled him away.

“You’re going to have to go in hiding with your girls.  This bastard has been using them as a threat to keep Ichigo from going to anyone,” he said, flipping open the text message conversation that was still buzzing.  “I think you should call the cops and have them go to your house.”

He left and returned to the table, aghast at the tirade of cursing and put downs that this man was putting into Ichigo’s head.  He scanned back through the text history and found much the same abuse.  A theme emerged at how he was keeping a hold on the kid.

The biggest was step out of line; I’ll hurt your sisters.  Next to that was enforcing how pathetically weak he was, and how he was nothing without him there to help him.  A couple stood out harshly.

_Me: I met a guy today that guessed what my name meant!_

_Ron: Strawberry?  Seriously that isn’t a huge guess, dumb ass._

_Me: No, he who protects, remember, that’s what pop meant when he named me._

_Ron: You can’t protect yourself.  Remember how well that went over when you tried to protect your mom, dumb ass?_

_Me: Sorry, you’re right._

Grimmjow shook his head, wondering how many times that got thrown in his face over the last few years.

_Me: Haha, a girl was trying to ask me on a date at work today!  It was funny, but I told her that I was taken.  She wasn’t happy._

_Ron: Why the fuck would anyone want you on a date?_

_Me: Uh, she just said I was cute._

_Ron: Yeah, then she’d find out how damaged and screwed up I’ve made you, and she’d fuckin’ run.  You belong to me, and I’ve made sure of that, remember that._

_Me: I know, I just thought it was funny._

_Ron: Funny because no one else would ever want you._

Grimmjow put the phone down and heard a soft snore, knowing he’d fallen asleep.  He looked up to see the two girls talking softly to Renji, still near the door, and finally Isshin came back.  He sat down with a tired expression.

“Taken care of.  The girls and I are going to go on an impromptu vacation.  Maybe by the time a month is up, this will be better.  I think we’re just going to leave now, before he wakes up.  Might be for the best,” he said.

All three went to see him, sleeping like that, and then left, the brown haired girl weeping as she left.  Grimmjow was left sitting across the table from Renji, who was now perusing the text messages at length.  He looked up and shook his head at Grimmjow. 

“This guy is a sick fuck.  He repeats things about eyes all the time.  And gaslights a lot, like a ton.  He’ll tell Ichigo something and a day or two later convince Ichigo he never said it or said something else,” Renji said as he scanned it.  “Like, he’s obsessed with eyes.  This is creepy as fuck, Grimm, like seriously.  Is this guy some sort of serial killer?  I thought you said he worked for that Aizen guy?”

Grimmjow shook his head.  “I’m not sure exactly what is going on with the eyeballs thing.  I know he’s some sort of Enforcer, so he’s one Aizen’s killers.  Apparently, he does it because he likes to, not just because he’s ordered to do it.  That makes it so much worse.  But why keep Ichigo under his thumb?”

Renji shook his head.  “There’s got to be some connection.  Didn’t Ichigo say his mother died when he was like nine or something?”

“Yeah,” Grimmjow said nodding in thought. 

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

It wasn’t a nightmare, instead one of his most pleasant memories.  It was often jumbled in his head though.  Either way, he enjoyed it so to remember the past.  His fury at losing his property was great, so his mind supplied him with his acquisition of him instead.

The boy had grabbed his hand, trying to keep him from shooting his mother.  Ronny had been amused at the balls of such a young kid, but then the gun went off and the boy looked up at Ronny with wide, brown eyes.  Those eyes.  Ronny was supposed to finish the boy too, that’s what Aizen had said.  But he couldn’t.  He stared through the mask at the eyes, bright orange hair falling into their clear brown depths, and he had to have them.  He had to do more than have them, he had to _own_ them.  He’d run then, unsure of what to do as the rain drowned out the sounds of the boy sobbing behind him.  Ronny had just started working for Aizen, barely seventeen himself.  He’d been punished, but he didn’t regret letting the kid live.  Those eyes…

A few years later, he’d been given a target, Kaien Shiba, young kid going to school that had the really bad luck to be the brother to one of Aizen’s enemies, Kukaku Shiba.  He was watching him, waiting for the right moment.  Ronny realized he wanted what this son of a bitch had.  He was happy, he had friend, he was handsome and charismatic…and he had _him_.  The first time he saw the kid that Kaien was romancing, he thought it was a coincidence.  Surly another person had that obnoxiously colored hair.  But then, he turned and looked at Ronny, and Ronny knew it was the same kid.  A few years older, but the same kid.  Not only did his mark have the perfect life, he had _his_ perfect pair of eyes.  A plan formed and it was perfect.  Just perfect.

Kaien was easy.  He was trusting, so when he saw a man having trouble fixing a flat on the road between school and home, he stopped.  He didn’t think about the fact that the only people on this road should be the people that lived on it, and didn’t think it strange at all to help someone.  Kaien pulled over and kneeled to look over the flat.  Instead of handing him the tire iron, Ronny slammed it into the back of his head.

Hours later, Kaien woke up on a table, strapped down and gagged.  Ronny leaned over him and smiled at him, his front teeth already discolored from his meth habit. 

“You have what I want,” Ronny said, and Kaien’s brows meshed together in confusion.  Ronny dug around in his bag and then turned back. “I was just supposed to kill you, because your sister is a real pain in Aizen’s ass.  I was supposed to cut off a finger and ship it to her.  I’ll do that still.  But you have something that belongs to me.”

Kaien struggled with the bonds and shook his head.  “You have the boy with the beautiful brown eyes.  He’s mine.  He became mine the day I shot his mother.”

Kaien’s eyes went wide.  Ronny nodded, holding up a clear, ornate looking jar filled with something clear.  “I like your eyes too.  So I think I’ll keep them.  Aizen doesn’t care what happens to the rest of you; after all, he just wants your finger as proof you’re dead.  The rest of you, well, I’m planning to have a little fun before you die.”

Kaien struggled again, but his head was fastened down to the table tightly as Ronny leaned over and pulled his eyelid open and smiled.  “Yes, I’ll do this first.  Don’t want them to be damaged…”  He turned and pulled out a thing that looked like a wire and slipped it into place on each Kaien’s eyes, keeping it open wide.  He smiled.  “It’s such a simple device, called an eye speculum.  Believe it or not, I fell so in love with that boy’s eyes, I went to ophthalmologist’s school.  Just long enough to get the basics down for what I had in mind, mind you.  I never wanted to practice.  Cutting open the eyes was fun though, made me certain that they were something I was interested in…” he said, a monologue as he rummaged in his bag again.  “Now where is it…” he muttered again.  He came back into Kaien’s forced few with a handful of instruments.  “Now, this is called enucleation of the eye.  I’m going to cut all the muscles around it, then snip the nerve after I pop it out of your eye socket.  The eye should come out cleanly, preserving its beauty.  Normally, an implant is put in when this is done.  You’ll not have to worry about that.”

Kaien screamed, but the muffled sounds wouldn’t be heard by anyone.  Finally, blinded, thankfully, he wanted to die, but Ronny wanted to practice some other techniques…  Kaien passed out several times before the blood loss eventually let him die. 

The mutilated body was unrecognizable when Ronny was done.  He held up the crystal clear container and smiled, sitting it down and putting the seal on the top and wrapping a light blue ribbon around it.  Inside, the pristine pair of turquoise eyes floated.  Yes, yes, this was perfect.  He picked up the finger he’d severed after he removed the eyes and put it in the small box for his boss.  He glanced back at the body on the table.  Such a mess, he thought.  He shrugged and poured the chemicals into the large bath and started tossing pieces of the body into the solution.  Using an abandoned morgue for this was ideal…

Aaroniero woke up with a smile despite the fact he’d lost his precious boy.  He’d get him back.  Perhaps not all of him, but he’d at least have his eyes.  He smirked and grabbed the baggie and pipe from the bed.  He had a meeting with Aizen later.


	5. Changing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Luna is property of SapphireTou, used with permission.

 

“Man, what the fuck got your ass in a kink?” asked the tall raven haired man.

“Fuck off, Nnoitra,” Aaroniero growled, refusing to even glance at the overly tall freak beside him in the elevator.  He had an extreme distaste of the head of the human trafficking branch of the Espada. 

The taller man snorted and looked away as the elevator hit the penthouse.  They exited and wandered into the luxurious large apartment to the conference room where Aizen was waiting for them.  Around the table were ten seats, each complete with file folders for the meeting that was about to commence.  Aaroniero took his seat, thumbing through the stupid folder.  His mind was definitely not in the mood for such annoying things today.  Sōsuke Aizen ran the entire operation with an iron grip, and woe to any that stepped out of line, as Grimmjow and Nel had found out.

Aaroniero looked around spotting Barragan, head of the underground gambling scene.  He was probably the best known bookie in the area.  Tier Harribel, a lovely and upstanding lady, ran the above board businesses.  She was squeaky clean and she kept the hotels, laundromats, and delis running.  The pale and green eyed Ulquiorra came in and took his place and Aaroniero couldn’t help staring.  He wanted his eyes.  They were beautiful and vivid green.  He snorted and looked down at the folder as he heard Nnoitra come in and sit down, and then the booming of Yammy’s voice.  Yammy rand the fighting rings.

Grimmjow’s seat had been taken by one of his underlings, a pyromaniac name Di Roy Rinker who was a complete idiot.  Aaroniero had little use for his ugly eyes.  Mayuri was ignoring everyone, scribbling away in his pad, as usual; the head of the research company called the Seireitei never paid much attention, only concerned with Aizen’s funding of his less than legal research. 

Finally, Aizen himself entered, taking one of the two seats at the head of the table.  The other remained empty.  He cleared his throat and received reports from each of the heads.  It was a usual monthly meeting but Aaroniero didn’t pay attention to most of it.  Finally, he gave his terse report, and waited for the whole thing to be done.  After Aizen finished final instructions and left, Aaroniero stormed out before the rest. 

Nnoitra looked after him.  “The fuck is wrong with him?” he muttered.

Ulquiorra snorted beside him, looking at the closed door. “I heard his boytoy ran away.”

Nnoitra frowned, Harribel coming up beside them.  “Boytoy?” she asked with a frown.

By now, Yammy came up.  “Tier, seriously, you haven’t heard him talk about it?  He found this kid when he first moved here few years ago, took a shine to him, then well took a shine to him,” he said and sauntered off.

She looked at the remaining two for a further explanation.  Nnoitra sighed. 

“When he says kid, he means kid.  The fucker was shaggin’ him before he was sixteen, nothing I ain’t seen, but I don’t go for the underage shit,” he said, rubbing his blind eye under the bandana he wore.  “Especially since from the way he boasted, it wasn’t exactly the kid’s idea.”

Harribel frowned deeper.  “What the hell?  You’re telling me he…”

Ulquiorra shook his head.  “Guess the kid finally got tired of being used as a punching bag for the bastard,” he muttered.  “Kid moved in with him a few years ago.  Ronny’s taken to bragging a great deal about how good he is at no one being the wiser of him beating the hell out of him on a regular basis.”

Harribel was about to speak and Mayuri came up, face fixed in a creepy grin.  “Nah, what I heard was he ended up getting too rough and he ended up in the hospital with a punctured lung, and somehow he disappeared before he was supposed to be released.  So Aaroniero is pissed at losing his little plaything.  I’m betting some doctor or nurse finally got the truth outta him.”

Harribel shook her head.  “And Aizen allowed this?  The chances he’s taking of getting noticed by the cops, sleeping with an underage kid…and then putting him in the hospital?”

“Believe me, the kid wasn’t going anywhere.  Ronny seemed to think he had an iron clad hold over the brat somehow, but I guess it ain’t workin’ anymore,” Nnoitra said with a grin.  “I never liked that asshole.  He’s a creepy bastard, and always staring at people’s eyes and commenting on them.  Hope he fucks up and Aizen replaces his ass.”

Harribel left the meeting feeling much more uneasy than she had gone into it feeling.  She got to the car and her phone buzzed.

“Ms. Harribel?” the voice on the other end queried.

“Abarai,” she said smiling, the image of the redhead that worked at Las Noches for her coming to mind.  “What can I help you with?”

“Ah, I’m sorry to ask this, Ms. Harribel, but I was wondering if I could take a week or so off.  Some…family issues have come up.  And I also need to ask the same for Ichigo Kurosaki,” he said, and she could tell his voice was tight.

“I think you both deserve some time off if you need it, but why are you calling for Kurosaki, too?  Shouldn’t he call for himself?” she asked.

“Well, he just got outta the hospital, and he’s a cousin, and I’m sorta takin’ care of him for his dad, and he really needs someone all the time right now.”

“That’s too bad, Abarai, what happened?” She really liked the kid.  He’d been working at the hotel since he was sixteen.  Good kid, reliable, if a little weird.  He never really spent time with anyone.  She was curious how he was related to Abarai all of a sudden; they’d never done more at work than say passing hellos and the occasional conversation when the business was slow.

“Ah, he had a punctured lung, sucks, but I gotta watch out for him until it heals all the way,” he said, and Harribel’s stomach dropped.  What were the chances that Ronny’s missing boyfriend and her employee had the same injury at the same time?

“Abarai…okay.  Just…call me and let me know when you can come back,” she said, ending the conversation as quickly as she could and staring at the phone.

The pieces were fitting together in her mind as she recalled the orange haired kid.  He just turned twenty this year, and she’d hired him as soon as he turned sixteen after getting a recommendation from…  She blinked.  The recommendation had been from Ronny. He claimed at the time he was a down on his luck kid he was helping out.  That in itself was odd, but the kid had confirmed, saying his parents had kicked him out and Ronny was helping him get on his feet on his own. How could she have missed this?  She knew the kid was odd, never talking to anyone unless he was made to do so, always wearing long sleeves and pants no matter the weather, and she recalled how he always lowered his eyes whenever he spoke to anyone for more than a word or two.  She had completely missed what was happening under her nose.

Granted, she wasn’t always in the hotel.  She was the general manager, but the place was run by her staff, and things there rarely required her presence.  The same could be said for all the businesses she managed for Aizen.  She insisted on doing the hiring and firing for all of them, though.  If nothing else, she insisted on perusing the files and giving her opinion to the human resources department about who would fit the positions.  So technically, she maybe saw him once a week, and sometimes less than that.  But still. 

In her thoughts she had reached her car, a small blue Prius.  She opened the glove compartment and retrieved a plain phone.  She plugged it in and dialed the only number in the contacts.

“Urahara’s Candy!” came the cheerful response.

“Are you moving again?” she asked.

There were a series of clicks.  “Hal, good to hear from you.  You have news?”

“I think there might be trouble with the Enforcer,” she said, navigating her car smoothly as she spoke.

“Ah, waves have come your direction, my dear? Yes, Sexta is involved with this one.”

“And I’m involved too, now.”

“Why is that, dear Hal?” he asked, a little trepidation sneaking into his voice.

“Because I’m pretty sure that Ronny’s pissed over his toy disappearing, and I just got a call from one of my hotel boys saying he needed a week off to care for a cousin.  The cousin who he never had until today, and happens to be in the same condition as Ronny’s toy,” she said, biting back a more severe retort.  She hated the secretive way the bastard spoke sometimes.

“Ah, well, that is unexpected.  Can you handle things for now?”

“Until Ronny comes beating down my door wanting answers about where he is.  I can divert him with the excuse he called in for a short time, but I’m not sure how long that will work.”

“I’ll let Sexta know.  Hal, he’s ready to pull the whole operation to its knees this time.  Something about this kid has him riled up like never before.  It’s like with Nel, only worse,” Urahara said thoughtfully.

“He’s never gotten over what Aizen did to her, and I doubt he will.  But I’ll contact Mayuri, and we’ll start our operations.”

“I’ll be in contact.”

The phone clicked off as she pulled into the convenience store.  She opened the back and pulled the SIM and tossed the phone in the dumpster as she went in to buy a new burn phone.  She’d been in this for so long now, was it possible for her to finish things with that bastard?  She chewed her lip and thought of Nel, her once superior.  She nodded.  She could do this.  She had to do this.  Maybe if she did this, brought things around, Nel could recover.  And she’d have the one person she loved more than life itself back.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

There was a groan from the couch and a muttered curse.  Grimmjow leaned over the back looking down at the orangette who was scowling at his hand.

“What’s up, strawberry?” he asked.

“My hand hurts.  My side hurts.  My everything hurts,” he muttered, flopping back onto the couch.

“Yeah, well, seems like you really don’t complain as much as you should,” the bluenette observed.

Ichigo gave him a pained smile.  “Yeah, well with Ronny, complaining got me something else to deal with.  So I leaned really fast not to do that…oh no!”

Grimmjow arched a brow at him. “My sisters, what...where…he’s going to go after them…”

“Settle the fuck down, strawberry.  They’re fine.  We got them off on a nice little month long vacation while we get this mess sorted out, okay?” he watched as he relaxed a little.

“Can I have my phone?” he asked timidly.

Grimmjow snorted.  “Fuck no.  Renji and I both read through the shit he’s trying to put in your head.  No fuckin’ way.”

Renji came around now, flopping on the couch at Ichigo’s feet.  “That’s for damn sure.  I swear to fuckin’ god and all that is holy, if I ever see that fucker his face is going to come to an end at my fist.”

Ichigo turned away, face blushing a nice pink.  Grimmjow smiled at the sight.  “Whatsamatta Strawberry?” he cooed.  “You’re turning as red as your name.”

Ichigo fixed him with a scowl.  “I just…no one…” he stopped and sighed deeply.  “I’m not used to nice words.  I don’t deserve them at all…”

Grimmjow frowned.  “Look, I know the story.  Your dad told me about the shit that happened and how your mom got killed when you were young, so you shut the fuck up and listen to me right now, Strawberry.” 

Grimmjow was rewarded with an open mouthed gaping expression, eyes wide and shocked.   Renji had reached out and placed a hand on Ichigo’s leg, a grin tugging at his lips.  Grimmjow continued, eyes blazing and angry.

“You were a fuckin’ kid.  You weren’t supposed to protect shit; you were supposed to be protected.  Your mom was fuckin’ proud of you for what you did, and you know why?  You did your best to try and save both your lives.  And you saved the life she most wanted to save, your stupid life, you stupid brat.  She’d be so upset to see what you’re doing to yourself still, six years later.  Letting that fucker beat the shit out of you and control you because you let him convince you that he was right.  But even that, fuck, that isn’t your fault.  So this shit ends right here,” he said, coming around and sitting on the coffee table.  Ichigo couldn’t take his eyes off him.

“This bastard is just that, a royal bastard.  I got some information on his shitty ass.  They call him, Ai Dorobō, the Eye Thief.  He’s been working for Aizen since he was sixteen as a hit man.  I remember him in passing when I was there, but he wasn’t in power then.  His family was into some fucked up shit, all of them obsessed with their family name.  Some shit about a Portuguese royal family.  They used to sell drugs, and that’s how Aizen knew the little bastard and used him.  When his parents both died in his high school days, Aizen took him in and fostered his…insanity.  He likes to kill people, and now when he kills, he keeps the eyes,” Grimmjow stopped when he noted Ichigo looking away.

“He’s psychopathic, Ichigo.  He knew how to manipulate a kid like you were, and he got you in his fuckin’ web of lies and threats and you were stuck.  Well fuck that.  You are here now, and I ain’t about to let the bastard get ‘hold of you again.  He’s a worthless piece of shit, and before this is done, I’m going to slit his fucking throat and watch him bleed into the gutters,” he said, leaning closer as he spoke.

Ichigo didn’t know how to react.  He was scared, but at the same time he wasn’t.  Ronny was furious all the time, but this was different.  This was something that set a fire in his stomach and made his head dizzy to hear someone talk like this.  And he just was lost at what to think.  So many years of being told how worthless and useless and unwanted he was had left him…empty.

Then, Grimmjow’s hand was on his face and pulling him into a kiss, a gentle chaste kiss, lips barely brushing his own with slight pressure, and with kindness he’d never felt before.  His eyes widened at the feeling and then he simply melted into it, not really noticing that Renji had moved to sit beside Grimmjow and was watching intently.  Ichigo’s hand moved on their own, wrapping around that soft blue hair, as he gasped, Grimmjow’s tongue flicking gently into the opening, and finding no resistance, slipping in and caressing his own tongue.  He felt himself falling forward, and simply dying to feel more of these…gentle touches…gentle things…he didn’t know existed.  Kisses were bruising and painful, leaving his lips and tongue aching afterward, mostly bleeding as well, not this.  This…this was bliss.

Grimmjow pulled back, only because the need of breath had found his lungs beginning to burn and stared at the man before him.  Ichigo’s eyes were glassy and dilated wide and his breath was fast.  Then, to his even greater surprise, Renji gripped his chin and pulled him into another kiss, which shocked him even more than Grimmjow.  Renji was someone he’d known for so long, someone he’d seen daily, someone who…liked girls…

That thought was shattered as his slightly more impassioned kiss took hold of him and Ichigo found his body leaning against someone warm, and realized Grimmjow had moved to sit behind him, holding him up as Renji had sat down on the couch beside him, holding both hands on his face and delving deeper into his mouth, setting a fire in his stomach, and his eyes finally were slipping closed and there was no doubt that this was not Ronny.  This was…divine.  Finally, the redhead pulled away and stared into his eyes while he panted equally.

“Wha…what was that for?” Ichigo panted.

Behind him, Grimmjow wrapped his arms around his chest.  “Because you needed it, you idiot strawberry.  You’ve never had a real kiss, and from now on, I claim your first kiss.”

Renji grinned.  “And I claim the second.  And no way will that be the last.  I just went and gave up everything and so did Grimmjow.  By the time we’re done, we may never see this town again, but I’ll be damned if we let go now that we have you.”

“But why, I…I don’t even know you…either of you…that well…why would you…but…” he stammered, looking between them.

Grimmjow smirked.  “Well, you remind me of someone who’s gone, for one, but for another, there’s just somethin’ about you.”

“And I’ve always thought you were cute,” Renji said with a smirk.  “Why do you think I kept asking to give you a ride and to go out to the bar and the club?”

“But…you like girls!” he stammered.

Renji shrugged.  “So?  I like guys too. That a problem?”

Ichigo gaped and shook his head, then just leaned back into the warm arms around him.  He was dreaming.  He had to be dreaming.  There was no way this could be real…

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Aaroniero had spent some time in the bar after the meeting before heading home to an empty apartment.  He hadn’t thought he would miss the fucking brat but he did.  He snorted as he punched the code to get in and nearly ran into the land lady as he stormed through the lobby.

“Mr. Arruruerie,” the petite woman said, looking up at him.

Aaroniero hated his name, which was why he never used it.  “Ms. Luna,” he said, nodding.

“Is everything alright, I haven’t seen your partner in the building the last few days…” she said, running a hand over her pale blonde hair and watching Aaroniero curiously.

He smiled at her.  “Ah, went to visit his family out of town for a while, Ms. Luna,” he said.

He thought she had lovely eyes, a greenish hazel color.  However, he already had a pair that color and he didn’t need another set.  She stared at him for a long moment.  “Yes, well, please ensure the rent arrives on time this month, Mr. Arruruerie.  You were almost a week late last month,” she said as she went past him.  He snarled and headed to the elevator.

Luna stopped and watched as he left.  She knew something was wrong.  The young man was never gone over night, which was in itself strange.  She knew it wasn’t a conventional relationship, he was several years older than his partner, but she didn’t like to meddle.  However, lately, she had noticed that Aaroniero was smelling of something familiar.  She knew the look of a meth user, the hollow cheeks, the changes in skin color, the rotting teeth, and he had a chemical smell about him all the time.  She knew he wasn’t making it in the apartment, she’d run surprise inspections for that a time or two.  She sighed and went to her apartment to check in on her two charges.  Something was going on in her building and she needed to know what it was.


	6. The Interconnectedness Factor

 

 

Luna Tristao had owned the building, 20 Himawari, for about years, but to be honest, it was only one of the things that kept her busy in her life.  Often nights and weekends she could be found teaching Salsa dancing down at the recreation center, and if not, she was often at the various shelters helping those she could.  More than once she’d offered free room and board to someone on hard times in her building in exchange for handiwork around the place.

Luna had taken over the building when her husband died two years before from terminal cancer, choosing this building out of all of his properties because it was in midtown and offered a lot of space for those that needed help.  Luna had met her husband, Ugaki, in Sao Paulo where he had been volunteering.  Ugaki had been staying with a host family near where Luna lived with her aunt and uncle.  There was instant chemistry between them.  Unfortunately, Ugaki’s family disapproved of him marrying Luna, and that thought always bothered her a great deal.

Ugaki had been a good man, and when the cancer became aggressive, he decided that he would do something to give back to the world.  He had always been self-reflective and helped others, and now he had a chance to do more good in the world.  Most of his fortune went to charity, and Luna had kept the one apartment building and enough of a fund to allow her to live comfortably and provide shelter for those in need of it when necessary.

Like the two boys in her home right now.

She was still a little bothered by the encounter with her tenant when she entered the apartment to hear Luppi yelling at the video game he was playing.  He looked up when he heard the door open and shut and looked up.

“Luna, how are you?” he asked, his Japanese drastically improving in the last year.  When she and her husband had sent for him, he spoke no Japanese whatsoever, so the fact that in a few short years he’d almost mastered the language was impressive.  Especially since he hadn’t been able to read his own language as a child.

She smiled.  “How’s Tesla?”

Luppi glanced over at the chair where the blonde haired and very bandaged boy sat curled up on himself.  It had been around a month since Luppi had stumbled onto him in the alley behind their building.  He didn’t say much at all yet since they’d brought him home from the hospital.  He’d been severely beaten and one of his eyes had been removed, with uncanny accuracy.  The police said they assumed that the attacker had been interrupted since there had been a few other eyeless corpses in the area in recent years, but they hadn’t been able to track down the culprit yet. 

Luppi shook his head and turned back to Luna.  “He’s been muttering some things in Portuguese and some in Japanese under his breath, but I haven’t been able to get a whole sentence out of him, yet.”

“The police think that he had been a victim of that horrible human trafficking ring they’re trying to bust,” Luna said, putting down her bags in the kitchen.

Luppi nodded.  “I’m glad you found me before something like that happened to me,” he said, sighing.

“Sweetie, I’ll never regret that night.  Or bringing you to Japan to be with me,” Luna said.

Luppi had been nearly abducted by a serial rapist in Sao Paul when he was younger.  Luna had heard the tales of a fake policeman luring young men and women into their car and then assaulting them.  She had pretended Luppi was her little brother and the man had left, leaving Luppi confused until Luna explained why she’d done it.  Not long after, when Luppi’s mother stabbed his father, she’d come to stay with Luna and her aunt and uncle.  Once Luna was able, she sent for Luppi to live with her.

Luppi sighed and started to go back into the living room then turned back.  “Luna, you seem…like something’s wrong.”

Luna looked back, shaking her head.  “I ran into Aaroniero on the way in.  I think he’s an addict now.  He smells of something familiar,” she said, frowning.  “And his boyfriend hasn’t been home recently.  I worry over that young man, so fragile looking…” she said, taking out the groceries from the bag.

“I think he’s a meth head,” Luppi said, leaning over the counter and watching Luna.  “I’ve seen that hallow look before.  But I don’t think his boyfriend does it.  He just seems jumpy all the time.”

Luna nodded, glancing over to where Tesla still sat huddled in the chair with the blanket.  “Yeah, he does.  Did they call with anyone more on Tesla from the police?”

Luppi shook his head.  “No, they didn’t.  Do you think they’ll ever figure out what happened to him?  Or will he ever talk?”

Luna put the rest of the groceries away slowly and turned back to Luppi.  “I just don’t know, honey.  He may be too far gone for us to help him.  Have to give him time.  Maybe when he’s healed, we can have a prosthetic eye placed for him.”

Luppi nodded and went back into the living room to play his game again.  Luna shook her head.  She didn’t mess with those things.  She was somewhat of a technophobe to the point she limited contact with technology as much as possible.  She was sure she had some sort of technology related curse, because ever since the first computer she tried to use nearly shot sparks across the room, she seemed to have bad luck with them.  She let Luppi take care of that stuff.  Later she’d have him look up a few things on her tenants, and see if something had happened.  Of course, she had others she could call…but she’d rather wait until that was necessary.  She hated to bother them, after all, she imagined the candy shop was a busy place right now.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Urahara knocked on the door at an inconvenient hour.  A bleary eyed Grimmjow answered it with a grumble and let the hat wearing man in.  “What have we got, bastard?” he muttered.

“Is that any way to treat your contact?” Urahara asked with a smirk. 

“Shaddup and tell me what the fuck we’re going to do,” he muttered again.

Urahara sighed, looking up as Renji came into the room.  “Ah, Renji-san, how are you?”

“Tired, why so early?” he muttered, scratching idly at his crotch as he walked past in his boxers and nothing else.

Urahara smiled.  “Because, the bad guys sleep in, the good guys have to get up early!” he said with a chipper smile.

Grimmjow groaned, but took the coffee cup Renji handed him.  “Fuck you, old man.”

Urahara smiled again and opened the file folder he had brought.  “Now, this is going to be a very complicated take down, Grimmjow, Renji.  Both of you must go by the plan with no deviation.  Otherwise, Aizen won’t fall, and none of you will be safe.  Now, I’ve ordered an officer to come stay with you.  Just extra insurance, of course, I trust you completely, Sexta,” Urahara said with a coy grin.

“Yeah, I’m sure you do, who is it?” he said, yawning.

“Hisagi.”

“Ah fuck, really?” Grimmjow said, rolling his eyes.  “Can’t you send someone else besides that perverted bastard?”

“I’m afraid he’s the one available, Grimmjow.  I seem to remember you and that ‘perverted bastard’ getting along quite well while you were in my safe house,” Urahara said, arching his brows at him.

Grimmjow snorted and Renji looked at him.  “Did you sleep with him?” he asked.

Grimmjow shrugged.  “There might have been some drunken nights I don’t remember clearly,” he muttered.  “Most of which involved several other participants,” he said, sniffing and looking away from Renji.

“You had orgies with the guy?” Renji said, grinning.  “Oh, that’s gold.”

“Shut up, it was a while, back okay?” Grimmjow muttered. “Besides, I’m not interested in that anymore.”

“Oh, yes, you are interested in the one you are protecting,” Urahara said, nodding.  “I see.”

There was a thump and everyone glanced to see that Ichigo was standing in the doorway to the kitchen watching them.  He’d dropped his cup.  “I’m sorry!” he said, starting to reach for it.

“No, no, sit down, Ichi-babe,” Renji said, hopping up and grabbing the cup and ushering him to sit at the table.  “You should be in bed resting. You aren’t near healed up enough.”

Ichigo shrugged.  “I was thirsty,” he said, looking between them, and then glancing at Urahara before staring at his hands.

Renji patted his back gently and then went to get him some more water to drink.  Urahara smiled and put his hand on Ichigo’s softly.  “Ichigo, how are you feeling today?”

Ichigo looked up, surprised.  “Um, better, I think, I’m still not used to this sort of…um…attention.”

Urahara nodded.  “Understandable, my boy, understandable.  I was just telling Renji and Grimm that I’m sending over an officer to stay with you until things are over.  Another protection. He’s a good man, and he’s well trained.”

Ichigo shifted uncomfortably, unsure about more new people.  “Okay,” he said, nodding. 

Renji handed him his water and sat down again.  “Okay, old man, what’s the plan?”

“Well, the plan requires clothing, for one thing,” Urahara said, glancing at the two underwear clad men across the table.  “I’m taking Grimmjow down to the Rukongai to meet up with our undercover operatives.  Renji, you’ll stay here until Shuuhei gets here, then I want you to go pick up the people that visited Ichigo in the hospital.  All of them will need protection.”

“Will Ichigo be okay with this guy?” Renji asked, looking at Grimmjow.

Grimmjow nodded.  “Yeah, he’s fine.  Just a lot of old memories associated with him.  But he is a stand-up guy and won’t let us down.”

Grimmjow headed to his room and changed first while Renji fixed some breakfast for everyone.  Curiously enough, the tattooed redhead was quite the cook.  Granted, it was out of necessity, but he enjoyed it.  He offered everyone a plate, and then when Grimmjow came back out, he went to change.  Grimmjow saw Ichigo pushing his food around and poked his arm.  He looked up at Grimmjow.

“Eat, please.  I’ll feel better about leaving the apartment if I know you’ve eaten,” he said, smiling at him.

Ichigo nodded, managing about half the food that Renji had given him.  Ichigo didn’t know what to make of all these things yet.  So many years, he’d lived in fear both for his own life and others; he didn’t know what to do.  Part of him wanted to know what the limits were.  Part of him wanted to make Grimmjow and Renji so mad they would hurt him, just so he’d know.  It was strange, no matter what he tried, he couldn’t feel safe.  He felt that any minute, Ronny would come into the room and kill both Renji and Grimmjow, and make Ichigo watch him cut out their eyes.

Ichigo couldn’t help it.  He couldn’t stop thinking of what he would do.  He wasn’t safe; he wasn’t ever going to be safe as long as Ronny was out there…

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Aizen smoked a cigar thoughtfully as he leaned back in the booth.  The club was bright and busy around the large booth he sat in with a few of his people.  He drank a martini and one of the girls sat on his lap, he didn’t remember who she was, to be honest. 

“Sir, I’ve had trouble getting in contact with Ronny,” Barragan said from beside him, looking over at him.

“He’s probably off his head,” he muttered, dragging on the cigar deeply.

“Why do you tolerate his drug habit, sir?” Barragan said, frowning thoughtfully.  “He is going to become a liability if he continues this.”

Aizen nodded.  “I’m not worried; he’ll kill himself before I have to do it.  Meth isn’t a drug known to keep people alive for long.”

“He’s a creepy fucker,” Nnoitra said, sipping his beer from the other side of Nnoitra.  “Seriously, the thing with the fucking eyes.  Just creepy as fuck.”

“Talks to himself too,” Ulquiorra added almost too quiet to hear.

Nnoitra nodded.  “Yeah, I’ve seen him have full on conversations with himself.  Seriously, that guy is fucked in the head.”

Aizen nodded, sipping his martini.  “Yes, he’s always been unstable.  He has been quite useful, but it may be coming to the end of his usefulness.

Aizen had seen a great opportunity with the boy.  His investment in him had paid off, to be honest.  When he found the worthless brat, he was struggling to survive in a family of broken wealth.  Aizen had met Aaroniero’s worthless father when he was using him for drug pipelining.  They were pathetic, a wealthy Portuguese family that had come to Japan in the nineteenth century, merchants at one point, but their luck ran out.  In the early 1950s, they started to milk what remained of the family fortune dry.  That was when they moved to drug trafficking.

It was a sad thing, at first, they’d been successful, but with easy wealth and access to mind altering substances, and of all the disgusting things, trying to marry within the family to keep their blood pure.  Of course, inbreeding led to some interesting psychopathic tendencies, which was perfect for Aizen’s needs.  He needed a killer with no remorse, one that would kill women, children, whole families, without a second thought.  He found that in the boy named Aaroniero.  His disgusting parents had been cousins, both mentally ill themselves, and strung out on various drugs.  Aizen had actually had the boy kill his parents after he took him in.  No strings attached, he thought.  The rest of them had self-destructed long before Aizen needed to kill them.

“His entire family was afflicted with mental disorders,” Aizen said nonchalantly.  “It is no surprise that he is as well.  That’s why I brought him into this.  He has no morals, no conscious.”

Nnoitra sighed, shaking his head.  The problem with men with no morals was they were unpredictable, and he was very worried about the damage this guy would cause before the end.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo was nervous about meeting this new guy.  He wasn’t ever comfortable around new people.  Ronny had brought home people now and then, and when he did it ended badly.  Ronny enjoyed watching him cry, he said it made Ichigo’s eyes sparkle like brilliant diamonds.  He never liked new people.

The doorbell rang and Renji, who had got up and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, answered it.  Ichigo sat on the sofa and waited.  He didn’t want to act like he was scared, even if he was terrified.  A few minutes later, Renji came into the living room with a thin dark haired man with a sixty nine tattooed on his face.  He wore a business suit, though, and a black tie with a white shirt.  His shoes, though, Ichigo noticed were not dress shoes, but trainers made to look like dress shoes. 

“Ichigo, this is Shuuhei Hisagi, he’s one of the lieutenants that work with Urahara,” Renji said, and the fact that Renji didn’t look confident didn’t help.

Ichigo stood up and bowed slightly to him, Shuuhei returning the slight bow.  “I’m glad to meet you, Ichigo.  I hope you are well.”

Ichigo nodded and then sat back down and grabbed the magazine off the table.  Renji and Shuuhei walked away, talking still and then he heard Renji leave.  Shuuhei came back in and flopped down on the other chair with a sigh.

“So, what’s your story?” Shuuhei said, staring across at Ichigo.

Ichigo looked up.  “Wh-what do you mean?”

“All I know is I’m supposed to keep you safe.  They don’t give me the details about the why,” he said, shrugging.

Ichigo chewed his lip for a second. “Um, I’m staying away from my b-boyfriend, he…he is…was…Aaroniero…and he’s bad, you know, and they sent my family away to keep them safe.”

Shuuhei nodded.  “What’d he do?”

Ichigo glanced up, wide eyed.  “Um…just…I…” 

Shuuhei’s brows wrinkled.  “You don’t have to tell me, I don’t care.”

Ichigo swallowed, nodding, looking down at his hands immediately.  Ichigo felt Shuuhei put a hand on his shoulder, and he jumped, wincing in pain as he jostled his ribs.

“Hey, sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said, looking concerned.  “You’ve been hurt, haven’t you?” he said, seeing the fading bruise now up close on his face and the greenish marks on his arms. 

“Just…I don’t want to talk right now,” Ichigo said, standing and rushing into Grimmjow’s room and closing the door, leaving Shuuhei staring after him.  


	7. The Undercover World

Urahara and Grimmjow got to the Rukongai a little while after they left.  Grimmjow hadn’t been to this dive in years now.  It was a little out of the way dive bar that looked like the walls could fall down with a strong breeze.  However, it was in reality the entrance to a much larger, underground compound called the Seireitei. Grimmjow had only been to the Seireitei once.  The hideout under the candy store Urahara ran as a front was the place he’d stayed before.  They entered through the front and walked through a raucous looking bar scene.  Urahara led him to the men’s room and went into the last stall.  He faced the wall and tapped a particular combination on a tactile plate.  The wall dropped down, letting both men step over it into the next elevator.  Once inside, Urahara placed a palm on the scanner and it read his prints before it started the descent into the lower levels.

“Security is tighter than the last time I was here,” Grimmjow observed as they came to a stop.

Urahara nodded, stopping at another door and leaning over for a retinal scan this time.  “You have no idea, I’m waiting for the day we have to give blood samples…” he muttered as they came into the brightly lit room.

It wasn’t much different than an average office building, even having fake windows that glowed along the walls.  There were desks with phones and cubicles, and along the back walls were private offices.  There was a second level above this one, but it had to be accessed with a private elevator.  Only captains and lieutenants were allowed to go up to that level.

Urahara led Grimmjow to a conference room where three other people waited.  He recognized Tier Harribel from his time with Aizen.  The other one he knew was another plant named Mayuri Kurosuchi.

“Good morning,” Urahara said, sitting down across from them.  “I’m sure you all know each other from Grimmjow’s time in Aizen’s Espada.”

“Unfortunately,” Kurosuchi said, rolling his eyes.  “I thought he was out?”

“Well, he’s back in and we have a plan, but it is going to take some work on everyone’s part,” Urahara said with a smirk.  “We’re going to let Aizen catch Grimmjow.  He still thinks he’s dead, so finding out he’s not will be a good boon for you, Harribel.  We’re going to have him check into Las Noches under an assumed name, disguised, but you’ll report to Aizen that you recognized him.  Aizen will come and get him, holding him in the main compound.”

“He’s going to torture you,” Harribel said, looking at him in concern.  “He won’t stand for someone who has betrayed him to go unpunished.”

Grimmjow nodded.  “I know that it is likely, but he won’t kill me, and I need to be inside.”

“For what?” Kurosuchi asked, frowning.

Urahara held up a vial of purple liquid.  “I’m injecting him with hogyuku.  When he gets there, you’ll draw his blood and mix it with the half Aizen has already.  The gas released will knock everyone, including you, out flat for four hours.  Aizen doesn’t know what hogyuku does; he thinks it is a component for a drug cocktail.  It can be in the right concentration, but when combined with the iron in a blood sample, it releases a noxious gas.  We’ll come in with full forces, take everyone into custody before anyone wakes up, and we’ll be done.”

“And why couldn’t we have done this sooner?” Harribel asked, arching a brow.

Urahara smiled.  “I just finished the serum.  Grimmjow here offered the ideal vehicle to get it inside and to Kurosuchi’s lab without suspicion.”

“I just want this over.  My partner and my son need me home and out of danger,” she said, sighing as she stood.  “I’ll be waiting for your instructions.”

“Grimmjow will have a coded message for you when he checks into Las Noches.  You’ll be on duty when he checks in.  You’ll recognize him even in disguise,” Urahara said as she left.

Kurosuchi stood up and nodded.  “I hope your plan works.  For his sake,” he said, nodding at Grimmjow.

Urahara nodded as he left.  He turned to Grimmjow.  “Would you like to go down to our medical and see Unohana and make sure you’re in good enough shape to endure what may come your way?  I’m not letting you go in without knowing you can handle it.”

Grimmjow growled.  “If I must,” he muttered, sulking out the door like a petulant child.

Urahara started to get up when his phone rang.  He pulled it out and saw a contact he hadn’t spoken to in a long while.

“Luna,” he answered, smiling and leaning back in the chair.  “How can I help you, dear?”

“Um, you gave me your card, back when my husband, Ugaki, passed away…I know you meant for me to call you if I had trouble with his family after his death.”

Urahara nodded.  “I do remember, dear.  It has been a while; you aren’t having issues with them currently are you?”

“No, actually that situation worked out in the end.  They had abandoned him long before I began to love him, even though they hated me.  They wanted his money, and they got what they deserved of him in the end.  No, I just…you said you could ‘handle’ things that sometimes couldn’t be handled in normal ways, and…I’m having a hard time deciding how to deal with one of my tenants in my building…” she said, trailing off a bit.

“My dear, please, I do specialize in helping people,” he said, pulling out a notepad.  “Tell me, what’s your building?”

“I own 20 Himawari,” she said softly. 

Urahara stopped in the middle of writing the name.  “Himawari?” he said softly.

“Yes, and I have a tenant that I think is abusing drugs, and I haven’t seen his boyfriend in a few days…I’m worried he’s done something to him…” she began.

“Aaroniero lives in your building,” he said blinking rapidly.

“What? How do you know who I’m talking about?” she asked, suddenly very wary of this stranger she was asking for help.

Urahara leaned back and sighed.  “I know because I’m currently protecting his now ex-boyfriend and his family from him, Ichigo Kurosaki.”

A long silence extended between them.  “So you know about him?”

“He’s a very bad man, Luna.  He hurt Ichigo finally to the degree he was hospitalized.  Whatever you do, you need to stay out of this.  You need to make sure you keep away from him.  He is volatile right now, severely.  We are working on a way to get him under arrest without hurting others.  I’m also quite convinced he’s Ai dorobō,” he said slowly.

There was an audible gasp.  “No…the Eye Thief?  But…but I’m taking care of a boy…who had his eye cut out of his head…could he have done that to him?”

“It is imperative you keep the boy safe, if you don’t think he’s safe with you, bring him to the Candy Shop and I’ll keep him in my safe house.  He doesn’t leave victims alive, so it is very likely your boy you are helping was a victim he was interrupted during the attack…” he said softly.  “He’s a hired hit man for Sōsuke Aizen.”

“Oh my, I don’t know what to do then.  I think that this boy was a sex trafficking victim before he was attacked…that’s what the hospital told me,” she said, growing more concerned.

Urahara thought for a long moment.  “I’ll check in with the captain over the human trafficking division, but Aizen’s man for human trafficking is Nnoitra, a tall, thin man with an eye patch himself.  Whatever you do, don’t let that boy leave the apartment.  If he was turned out of the trafficking to die on the streets, and then was found by Aaroniero…it would have presented an easy victim for him.  I’ll send someone to watch the building.  Call me immediately if anything suspicious happens.”

Luna swallowed.  “Okay, but what should I…”

“Please, don’t confront Aaroniero.  We want him to believe everything is normal.  But within two weeks, he shouldn’t be a problem for you, dear Luna,” he said softly, trying to force a smile to his face.

“Okay, whatever you think is best,” she said softly.  “I wasn’t prepared to deal with this sort of thing…”

“Just be safe about it, dear, please,” he said and hung up, rubbing his eyes.  This day was getting weirder and weirder by the moment.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Renji got to Uryuu’s place first and knocked on the door.  He answered it and blinked in surprise.  “Renji, right?  What is it?”

“Well, see, things are going to happen quickly, and because we don’t want anything to happen to you, Urahara sent me to pick you and the others up.  He wants me to take you to his safe house.  We’ll be taking Ichigo there in the next couple days as well, just to be safe, but right now we’re trying to let him heal,” Renji said, hands deep in his pockets.  “Pack a few things, for a few nights, and we’ll go from there.”

Uryuu nodded slowly.  “This is going to get really bad, isn’t it?” he asked softly. 

Renji nodded.  “Yeah.  Come on, got room for everyone,” he said, and waited while Uryuu went in and packed a bag for a few nights.  He came out with a backpack and a laptop bag. 

“The girls’ house is the closest to here, right?” Renji asked as he came up to the car.

Uryuu slid into the front seat of the SUV and nodded.  “Yeah, few streets over.”

A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of a small house with a very neat front yard.  Uryuu got out and went to the door.  He went in and came out with the two young women in the next few moments.  They slid into the backseat with a bag for each of them.

“I don’t see why we have to leave our house,” Rukia said, frowning.

“Just a precaution.  Ichigo is in a precarious position right now and if any of you get hurt because of this, it is going to set him back quite a bit.  We really don’t know what might happen, and we don’t know if our plan will go off easily.  But for now, you all need to at least get to a safe place,” he said pulling into an apartment complex where Chad Yasutora lived.  Uryuu again got out to go and get the tall young man.

A few moments later a Chad came out with an animal carrier and a backpack.  Uryuu slipped into the backseat with the girls while Chad got in the front.  Renji looked at the carrier to see a pair of kittens, on pure white and one orange tabby.  He sighed, but nodded.  Chad, being the silent type, didn’t say anything, just buckled his seatbelt and stared forward.

After a while, they pulled into the Candy Shop owned by Urahara.  They all got out and went in to see a young boy with red hair and a girl with pigtails behind the counter.  The boy looked at them.

“All the way back, take a left, knock,” he said.

“You don’t have to be so rude, Jinta,” the girls aid.

Jinta slapped her on the back of the head.  “Ururu is an idiot,” he muttered and then looked forward.

Renji led the four to the door and knocked.  Several locks could be heard opening on the other side and the door popped open.  Urahara smiled.  “Come in, my friends, come in.”

The group followed him down a narrow set of stares into what appeared to be a normal shop basement.  Then he led them to a back area where he put in a code and the wall slid to the side.  They moved into another area, this time one that looked like a large house on the inside.

“Welcome to Urahara’s basement,” he said.  “There are six bedrooms, choose whichever one you like, though pairs do share a bathroom.  Please let me know if you need anything else!” he said, leaving them to settle in. 

Renji ran out behind him.  “So what next?” he said.

“Next, we get Grimmjow kidnapped,” he said with a smile.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Harribel was exhausted when she got home.  She was more than a little worried because it seemed like there were more and more problems.  She came in well after midnight once again from a last minute meeting that Aizen had called for everyone.  She thought she was being quiet but when she turned around she nearly ran into her partner, Jackie.

“Tier, love, again?” Jackie said softly.  “This is wearing on you,” she said, reaching out and embracing Harribel. 

Harribel just sighed and leaned into the hug.  “Things are getting wound up, and all I can tell you is it will soon be over.”

Jackie nodded, pushing her dark hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear.  “Wonderweise asked about you at dinner.”

Tier sighed.  “I’m so sorry to him most of all,” she said, walking past the other woman and into the living room.  She flopped into the couch, stripping her blazer and button down shirt as she went.

“I’ve got it handled, love,” Jacki said, sitting down and snuggling under Harribel’s arm.  She started tracing lazy patterns on her chest.  “I’ve had it handled ever since I moved in.  You and me are all he needs, and that’s the truth.  That piece of shit you were married to you doesn’t even deserve to know about anything that happens.”

Harribel remembered it well.  Wonderweiss had been two years old.  He hadn’t spoke, he rocked constantly, and they knew something was different about the boy.  To Harribel, the autism diagnosis had been a relief.  To her husband, it had been worse than a death sentence.  Less than six months of therapy and classes, and he announced he wasn’t going to raise a “retard kid” and he wanted them to put him up for adoption and try for a “normal” baby.  They had fought then, for hours.  Finally Harribel told him that if he didn’t want their son, he could leave, and never come back again.  He did.  The divorce was final in less than a month, and he signed over complete rights to the boy with a note that he wanted nothing to do with him because he wasn’t his son.

It had hurt, a lot.  But Harribel knew what was important.  Her son was important.  So, not long after that, she’d been hired by Aizen at a too good to be true position at Las Noches, and then she’d run into Jackie Tristan when Wonderweiss was 8.  Until then, her family had helped when they could.  They’d met at Las Noches when Jackie was arranging a place to stay for her all-female motorcycle club during a big motor show event.  They hit it off immediately, and went out first as friends.  She wanted to say it was love at first site, but that wasn’t the case.  However, they didn’t take long to fall in love after Harribel introduced her to Wonderweiss.  Jackie treated him so well, like a child should be treated. They’d heard the whispered conversations. 

“I should take Wonderweiss away when things get closer,” Jackie said, laying her head on Harribel’s chest.

Harribel nodded.  “Take him to that aquarium we’ve been promising him to go to in Osaka, and there’s a motor show coming up there too…he’ll like that too,” she said with a sigh.  “Then I won’t feel so bad about sending him away.”

Jackie nodded and shifted, surprising Harribel by straddling her lap with a grin.  “Right now, I think someone is due for some stress relief…” she muttered, diving down to nuzzle against Harribel’s neck. 

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo was nervous as night fell.  He watched out the window as the sun disappeared.  Would he find him?  Was he going to be safe? 

“Hey,” came Hisagi’s voice from the door startling Ichigo almost into falling off the bed.

“Oh, you scared me,” he said, holding his ribs as he looked up at the dark haired man.

“Sorry, but you should come eat, I made some hot pot, if you want some?  I don’t think that red-head or Captain Urahara would be happy if you didn’t eat,” he said, gesturing toward the door.

Ichigo stood up, nodding.  “I guess so, I’m getting used to all the food they try and make me eat,” he said, passing Hisagi carefully into the dining area.  He sat down at the plate Hisagi had made for him.

Hisagi sat down.  He’d removed his jacket and tie, making him seem a little more approachable to Ichigo.  Ichigo looked at him, and back at the plate.  Hisagi didn’t understand why he wasn’t eating then it dawned on him that he probably wanted permission.  He had put together a few things from what he had observed today.  Ichigo was abused, pretty severely, and for a long time.  It was even more disturbing that it was by Aaroniero.  He was perhaps one of the creepiest criminals Hisagi knew of.

“Go ahead, it isn’t as good as my mom’s hot pot, but it should be edible,” he said gently, smiling at him.

Ichigo nodded and slowly began to eat; getting about half of it down before he couldn’t eat anymore.  “I’m sorry, I’m not used to eating so much,” he said, looking over at Hisagi sheepishly.

Hisagi smiled.  “Don’t worry, you’ll get there.  You should rest, but here, let me get your medicine.”

Ichigo watched him go into the kitchen and wondered how he would compete for Grimmjow’s attention when he could have someone like that.  Hisagi was so handsome, and strong looking, and wasn’t frail and shattered like Ichigo.  Knowing that Grimmjow had been with him just made him feel small in comparison.  Why in the world would Grimmjow, or Renji even, choose him when there were people like Hisagi in the world?  Why would anyone?  He angrily wiped the tears from his eyes as Hisagi came in.

“Hey, you alright?” Hisagi asked, setting down the pills and water in front of him.  He kneeled down beside him.

“Fine,” he said, grabbing the pills and swallowing the water quickly.  “I just…I’m going…” he said, starting to feel anxious.

“Ichigo, hey, stop, what is it?” Hisagi asked, putting a hand on the back of the chair.

Ichigo looked at him.  “You’re…you’re so perfect, why would he want me?”

Hisagi blinked.  “What?  What are you talking about?”

“Grimmjow, why…why would he take someone like me when he could have had you?” he said, tears finally spilling over onto his folded hands.

Hisagi stared for a minute.  “Grimmjow, Grimmjow Jagerjaquez?” he asked.  “I thought this red head was the one who wanted to be with you?”

“He does, but…but this is Grimmjow’s apartment, and…and they…they both…” Ichigo stammered, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world.  Why would one person want him, let alone two?

Hisagi smiled, and shook his head.  “Hey, let me tell you something.  I don’t know this red head, but I know Grimmjow.  And if he says he wants to be with you, he wants to be with you.  He doesn’t say stuff like that lightly.”

Ichigo swallowed hard.  “But why?” he said softly, looking up at him.  “Look at me.  I’m broken…I’m a mess!”

Hisagi reached gently out and took his hand.  “No, you aren’t a mess.  You are someone who’s been through bad things, and Grimmjow, if I know him, fell in love with your heart.  He’s quick to love, believe me, but he doesn’t let go once he’s set his mind to it.  I never had his love, Ichigo.  That wasn’t what we were about.  He was in a bad place when I knew him, and he needed physical comfort.  We had some fun, but it wasn’t love. If he says he wants to be with you, he does.  He never wanted to be with me.”

Ichigo looked at Hisagi.  “Are you sure?” he said.

“I’m sure, now, you need rest, okay?  They should be here when you wake up in the morning.  Until then, I’m on duty out here,” he said as he stood up and noted the distinct wobble when Ichigo tried to stand.

The medicine had kicked in, so Hisagi helped him to Grimmjow’s bed and he was asleep before he got laid down.  Hisagi went to leave, and then looked at the dresser and smiled.  There were pictures of Grimmjow there the whole time, he just hadn’t looked.  Grimmjow and Nel.  He smiled and went to sit outside the bedroom door and wait.


	8. Abduction, Planned and Otherwise

 

A few days passed, tensely.  Grimmjow knew it was necessary that he not go back to his place, but he couldn’t help worry about Ichigo being left there with Hisagi.  He knew Hisagi wouldn’t try anything, but it just worried him.  He sighed as he sat in the large, opulent chair in his comfortable Las Noches hotel room.  A day had passed since he checked into the place.  He’d worn a long brown wig and a pair of sunglasses.  It really didn’t look like him, but Harribel was expecting him.  She made sure he was put in a room separate for other guests to make sure no one got hurt when Aizen came for him.  It didn’t take long.

The door opened quietly, which Grimmjow had expected.  Harribel had given them the key.  He was watching TV with the volume up sitting on the couch.  He pretended to ignore the clicking of the lock and the opening of the door, instead zoning in deeply on the fake wrestling match on TV and sipping a beer from a bottle.  He wished it weren’t cheap beer, because he had a suspicion that it was going to be at least a day or two before he got something else to drink.

There was a small pop and he felt the tranquilizer dart impact his neck.  He jerked, reaching up to slap it away unconsciously.  He blinked and looked up to see a couple familiar faces before he faded into unconsciousness.

Di Roy Rinker sighed as he went into the room followed by his second, Shawlong.  He reached over and yanked the brown wig off the figure on the sofa.

“Yup, Grimmy alright.  Come on, let’s get him up and out before someone sees us.  Nnoitra made sure the back entrance was clear,” he said, leaning down and hefting Grimmjow up to his shoulder.

“Fuck me, he’s a heavy bastard,” Di Roy muttered, stumbling backward as his partner got in position on the other side of him.

Together, they managed to stumble down the fire escape and to the waiting van where Nnoitra had some horrible techno music turned up way too loud.  It was no use to ask him to turn it down, he’d refuse and turn it up if Di Roy asked.  Instead he sat in the back with Grimmjow’s unconscious form.

As the van took off, he stared at his one-time boss.  He shook his head.  He understood why he left, he really did. After what happened to his sister…  Di Roy sighed and shook his head.  But why did he come back?  Why now?  He had been dead to them.  He frowned at the thought.  See, Di Roy wasn’t the smartest one of the crew.  He knew how to blow things up and that was really about it in the long run.  However, he knew his old boss.  Grimmjow was smart.  Grimmjow had gotten caught for a reason.  It wasn’t his place to comment, though.  He was just the explosives man.  He sighed as they pulled into the underground garage that led into the building Sōsuke Aizen owned. 

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Grimmjow came to slow consciousness.  He hated getting tranq’ed.  It sucked donkey balls.  He groaned because damn did he hurt.  He knew he was tied up before he even opened his eyes.  He blinked, the dim light making it hard to see yet.  His arms were bound above his head, holding him up on his tip toes.  That’s where the pain in his shoulders and back was coming from no doubt.  He blinked again, eyes finally adjusting to the room.  He was stripped to his boxer shorts, and he could feel the icy air on his skin.  He’d been in the torture room before.  However, he’d been the one doing the torture.

“Good morning, Jagerjaquez,” Aizen’s voice practically dripped with venom and honey at the same time.

“Fuck you, Aizen,” he muttered before a solid blow landed across his jaw from the right. 

He blinked and saw Yammy, his head shaved and glistening in the light.  Good to know that bastard hadn’t changed much.  He cracked his knuckles, already wet with blood from the first hit.

“You hit like a fuckin’ pussy still, Yammy,” he said, narrowing his cerulean eyes at the hulking man.  Grimmjow was no small man at almost six foot five, but Yammy was a monster.  There was a reason he ran the fighting rings.

Needless to say, a few more punches followed, and Grimmjow spat blood and a couple teeth to the ground in front of him.  He turned and glared at Aizen and smiled.  “That all you got, Aizen?  This fucker could beat me all day and I’ll smile at him.”

“You fuckin’…” Yammy growled and started to dive at him.  Aizen grabbed him easily by the shoulder and pulled him back.

“No, he’s mine to kill.  You’ll get to beat him some more, first I want to talk to him before you break his jaw and he can no longer be of use to me,” Aizen said calmly, stepping forward in an immaculate black suit.  “You convinced me of your death so thoroughly that I know you had some sort of help, Grimmjow.  Someone powerful helped hide you and your sister from me.  Tell me, who was it?”

Grimmjow smiled, blood dripping from his lips.  “No one, bastard.  I pulled off this trick all alone,” he said, shaking his head.

Aizen nodded.  “If that is true, why do you appear here once again?  You knew that Las Noches belonged to me.  You knew that I would be aware of your presence immediately.”

“None your fuckin’ business,” Grimmjow said, snorting and spitting on the floor at his feet before grinning at him again.

“It is unfortunate you don’t wish to be more cooperative, Grimmjow.  I could let you die quickly for your betrayal.  Now, your death will be slow and very painful.  You know how long I can make this last.  You know you have no way to get out of here.  Make things easy.  Tell me who aided you,” Aizen said, staring at him and keeping his hands tucked neatly behind his back.

“Aizen, got two words for you, fuck you,” Grimmjow said, his eyes never moving from Aizen’s face.

Aizen sighed and nodded to Yammy and walked out.  Yammy smiled, cracking his knuckles expressively and Grimmjow caught the glint of steel in the dim light.  “I ain’t gonna stop even if you tell me what he wants to know.”

Grimmjow grinned, “Don’t intend to tell you shit, so it don’t matter, mother fucker.”

Yammy came at his ribs first until Grimmjow was gasping for breath, but there was no way he’d tell anything.  He only had to wait this out.  It was hard to be a punching bag for a piece of shit like Yammy, but he didn’t give him the pleasure of screaming and yelling.  A few grunts and groans here and there as bones broke, but he was not going to satisfy that mother.  It seemed like hours before Yammy stepped back out of breath.  He tossed down the bloody steel knuckles and glared at him.

“I’ll be back you fucker.  Aizen said not to kill your ass until you talk.  Mayuri will be down to make sure of it,” he said before he headed up the stairs.

Grimmjow hadn’t had this much blood in a long time.  It had been a while since he’d been beaten the shit out of like this.  He smiled though. He was a tough fucking bastard.  He was somewhat glad to see that his few years of doing nothing hadn’t changed that.

“How do you take this sort of beating?  I’d love to experiment on you one day…” Kurosuchi said as he came into the dim light.  “Your pain tolerance must be very high,” he said, jabbing a needle into his arm and drawing a blood sample.  “Never seen someone that can take a beating quietly like you.  Even Yammy bitches up a storm when he gets beat down.  Not you.”

Grimmjow snorted and spoke before he thought.  “What happens when you get beaten up from the time you can walk.” 

Kurosuchi blinked and stared at him for a moment.  Grimmjow winced.  Shit, that was a lot more information than he had wanted to reveal to this bastard.  He expected something from him, a comment or an insult.  Instead Kurosuchi nodded and went back up the stairs without another word.  He had no idea what that meant.  He knew it wouldn’t be long now though.

Kurosuchi’s mind was a mess at that moment.  Images of his own abusive past had flooded his memory as soon as Grimmjow uttered those words.  He knew that Grimmjow didn’t even intend to speak those words, most likely the pain and adrenaline was talking for him.  He shook it away though and went into his lab.  He knew that this had to be mixed at exactly the right amounts.

Hogyuku was something that Aizen and Urahara had created together.  It was a base formula that seemed to morph into different things depending on what chemicals it was combined with.  Urahara had managed to keep the entire formula from his ex-partner, and for the last twenty years almost, Aizen had been trying to perfect it as a drug base.  All their subjects had died in the process.  A few minutes later, he took the sample from the centrifuge and drew out the liquid he needed. He’d ensured that the intake for the air system was fully opened in here.  The gas was supposed to be nearly odorless and self-destructing.  After twenty minutes, the gas would have dispersed completely.

He was happy, though.  It was going to be over.  Finally over.

When the two liquids touched, the vial began to hiss, and Kurosuchi smelled something that had a very light scent like Camilla flowers.  That was all he had time for before he fell forward onto his desk.  Vaguely, before everything blacked out, he heard several thumps as others fell into unconsciousness.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The shinigami had the entire building secured and all those inside arrested before anyone woke up.  It was entirely without casualties and it was exactly as they had planned. 

Grimmjow came to consciousness slowly, like swimming through thick syrup.  It wasn’t like coming out of a sedative, this was much harder.  He groaned because frankly he was in pain from head to toe. 

“About time you woke up,” came a familiar voice beside him.

Grimmjow turned to see Urahara sitting on the edge of the gurney he was on.  “Fuck, that sucked.”

Urahara nodded.  “The paramedics said you have three broken ribs, a cracked collar bone, and a fractured cheekbone.  I had them patch you up and bring you to the Seireitei.  We’ve got everyone else in lock up downstairs.  I thought you might want to sit in on some of the questioning.”

Grimmjow snorted.  Urahara smirked and looked at him.  “That is if you aren’t too injured…”

Grimmjow snarled, “Fuck you, I’m fucking fine.”  He sat up, yanking out the IVs and swinging his legs over the side.  He paused to hold his ribs for a minute.  “Fucking Yammy.”

“There is one thing…” Urahara said, slowly standing and stepping back out of range of Grimmjow’s swing.  “Aaroniero wasn’t there.  And he wasn’t at their apartment.  He’s in the wind.”

Grimmjow punched the cabinet beside him hard enough to dent it.  “Fucking bastard.”

Urahara nodded.  And that was why he had moved away from him.  Grimmjow was perhaps the sweetest, most big hearted man he knew, but he had an explosive and unpredictable anger when provoked.  Only danger to his loved ones would provoke this kind of rage.

“We’ll deal with it.  Come down, we’ll find out from Aizen where he could be,” Urahara said with and reassuring nod as Grimmjow grabbed a shirt from the now dented cabinet.  He sighed.

“Sorry about the cabinet,” he muttered.

Urahara shook his head.  “No worry, come now.  Let’s find out where this psychotic bastard has gone to.”

Urahara took him to the elevator and they headed down to one of the interrogation rooms where Aizen was seated handcuffed to the table.  As Urahara and Grimmjow entered Aizen’s eyes narrowed.

“I understand now.  You were the one that helped him ‘die’, weren’t you, Kisuke?” Aizen said with a smirk.

“That’s not what I’m here to talk about, Sōsuke.  We got all your crew except one.  Aaroniero.  Where is he?” Urahara asked as both he and Grimmjow sat down across from him.

“Ronny?  No idea.  He could be anywhere.  Did you check his little apartment?  He was so paranoid he refused to stay in the building.  Completely insane.  But that’s why I took him in,” Aizen said with a smirk.

Grimmjow slammed both fists into the metal table, startling both Urahara and Aizen.  “Where is he, Aizen?  Tell me.  He’s going to go after his ex again.”

“Oh, is that what you’re worried about?  That pathetic little boy he plays with?”  Aizen rolled his eyes. 

“His name is Ichigo, and he’s not pathetic.  You’ve let this bastard abuse him since he was a child.  How could you let one of your people abuse a fifteen year old kid?” Grimmjow growled.  The one thing Aizen had never tolerated was abuse of children.

“Oh he was special, that boy.  See, he was the son of Masaki Kurosaki.  The first person I had Ronny kill.  He was supposed to kill the boy too, but instead he got all hot and bothered by a nine year old boy.  So, when it came time to kill Kaien Shiba, and I found out he was courting the same boy, I sent Ronny especially.  He ended up taking him as his lover, and all was right with the world because the kid was almost as good as dead,” he said with a smirk.

Grimmjow couldn’t even muster the energy to yell.  “Why?” he whispered.  “Why did you want to kill them to start with?  He was a kid.  A child.”

“Yes, but you see, Masaki Kurosaki, and her bastard of a husband Isshin Kurosaki, knew things.  Masaki especially.  She had to be silenced, and I knew if I killed her and their son, Isshin wouldn’t talk either.  I don’t think he even knows that he knows things; he never got the opportunity to understand what was happening right under his nose.  The night Masaki died she was taking a file to him.  Ronny, good boy that he was, at least got that from her after she died in her son’s arms,” Aizen said, looking for the entire world as though he was discussing the weather.

“You don’t care if he lives or dies?” Grimmjow said, practically growling.

“Not the slightest bit.  I’ve already got my lawyers on this.  I’ll be out of here within hours,” he said, looking incredibly smug.

Urahara shook his head and stood up, Grimmjow slowly following him.  Once outside, another cabinet suffered a denting at Grimmjow’s fist.

“Before we go back to your place to talk to Ichigo, I want to speak with Nnoitra about something relating to Ichigo’s landlady,” Urahara said as they moved to the next room.  He looked at Grimmjow.  “Do you want to watch from outside?”

Grimmjow nodded.  “Yeah, me and Nnoi never got on well.”

Urahara nodded and went into the room with the lanky, one eyed man sat looking rather bored.  “Hey, Urahara, right?  Remember seeing you before.”

Urahara threw a picture onto the table within Nnoitra’s reach.  He picked it up and arched a dark brow over his one good eye.  “Who’s this cutie?”

“You don’t know?” Urahara asked, sitting down and staring across the table.

Nnoitra shook his head and put the photo of Tesla down.  “Nope, he’s a good looking boy though. Shame about his eye,” he said, reaching and touching the eye patch on the picture.

“He’s a human trafficking victim that was thrown to the street.  The Eye Thief got to him.  Took one of his eyes, but wasn’t able to complete the kill.  We assumed he was one of yours,” Urahara said, looking through the files on Nnoitra’s area.

“Oh no, good looking one like that would never be discarded in my division, are you kidding?” he said, shaking his head.  “Definitely not mine.  A shame, too, I’d have taken him for myself.”

Urahara sighed and nodded.  Nnoitra had been compliant with everything so far.  “Any idea who?”

Nnoitra shook his head.  “Man, there’s so many upstarts.  There’s a chance it could have been another group, Aizen took them out, and their merchandise just got scattered without someone to manage it.”

Urahara nodded.  “Alright, I’ll be back to talk to you more later.”

“Man, can I get some magazines or something?” he asked, looking up.  “I’m bored as shit.”

Urahara sighed and nodded.  “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks, man,” he said, resuming looking at his fingernails on his free hand.

Urahara shook his head and went back out to see Grimmjow sitting with his head in his hands in the observation room. 

“Let’s go pick Ichigo up and bring him here, I don’t want him out there while Aaroniero’s in the wind.

Grimmjow nodded, following Urahara to his SUV.  Things seemed to be looking up except for the one person they’d hoped to net getting away.  He couldn’t escape for long though, not with all the shinigami looking for him.  He sighed and watched out the window as they drove in silence.  As they neared his building, Urahara looked concerned.

“What is it?” Grimmjow asked, feeling the tension.

“Hisagi hasn’t called in this hour,” he muttered.  “Maybe he fell asleep.”

Grimmjow’s stomach dropped, and he pulled out his cell phone and texted Renji, who should have also been there with Ichigo.  Renji had spent a day with the others at the safe house, then came back to stay with Ichigo until the bust was over.  As they pulled into the garage, there was no answer from either of them.  Urahara got out first and motioned for Grimmjow to be quiet as they went up the stairs to the third floor.  They headed down the hallway and found the door ajar.  Grimmjow nearly lost it then but he kept his wits.

Urahara pushed open the door slowly, and moved in quietly with his pistol held up with one hand and his flashlight under it in the other hand.  “Renji?  Hisagi?” he called, moving into the front room.

The lights were off, and Grimmjow followed quickly, glancing around.  The lamp was broken, and as he came into the living room, it was wrecked.  The wooden coffee table was shattered and there were blood stained shards scattered around it.  Urahara moved through the kitchen and dining and then down the hall where the two bedrooms were.  He shoved open the first and gasped.

“Hisagi!” he said under his breath as he moved into the room.  Grimmjow followed him to find Hisagi, unconscious and tied up with the cord from the living room lamp.  It looked like he’d been knocked out with a solid punch to the face, though, his jaw swollen and purple.

Urahara checked his pulse and nodded to Grimmjow and then quietly exited and opened the door to the second bedroom.  He holstered the gun and shook his head as he headed into the room.  Grimmjow followed to find Renji, like Hisagi, bound up with a lamp cord, but he looked like he’d given a fight.  His face was battered, and it was obvious that he’d been the one to go through their table.  His white shirt was stained red and the tan comforter was stained under him.

“Pulse is good, he’s just out.  Looks like he got smashed in the head with something hard,” Urahara said, looking over him. 

“Where’s Ichigo?” Grimmjow said, blinking.

Completely unable to think straight, he proceeded to go through the entire apartment and every place it would be possible for a person to hide in or under.  After fifteen minutes of frantic searching, Hisagi and Renji had both woke up.  The ambulance had arrived and they were being checked over quickly.  Grimmjow stepped into the room Renji had been in.

“Where’s Ichigo?” he asked.

Renji looked up, and shook his head.  “I tried, he…he came in, and he surprised Hisagi.  I don’t know how, Hisagi was fucking good.  And he knocked him out flat in one punch.  Then I tried to stop him…and I couldn’t.  I’ve never seen someone with such insane strength, Grimmjow.  Just…”  Renji paused, collecting his thoughts and rubbing the back of his head.  “He had me pinned up against the wall, and had a knife, at my eye, and told Ichigo, if he didn’t come with him, he was going to take ‘them’ from me, and from Hisagi, then kill us…Ichigo said he’d go, and he dropped me to the floor and hit me with something.  That’s all I remember…”

Grimmjow nodded, rubbing his forehead for a moment before he just fell to his knees.  He just couldn’t stand anymore. 


	9. Under the Knife

Ichigo had enjoyed both Hisagi and Renji’s company.  He missed Grimmjow, though, but he understood why he couldn’t come home.  Of course, he wasn’t able to hear the details.  He only knew he was working with Urahara to put an end to everything.  Renji had said that his friends, like his family, were safe from Ronny.  They had decided to stay in Grimmjow’s apartment because keeping Ichigo away from the others was safer.  Not only that, but he still wasn’t in the best shape.  His ribs had healed mostly, but he was still very sore.

The night had gone as usual. No surprises, they had dinner, something that Hisagi had thrown together from the grab bag of groceries an officer had brought earlier that day.  Ichigo was getting better at eating, and it was a nice change for everyone involved.  Renji and Ichigo had just sat down on the sofa to watch a movie when the doorbell rang.  Hisagi had been about to text in for the hour, but he put down his phone and looked out the peephole.  A hooded figure stood out there, but held up a shinigami badge to the door.  Oh, Hisagi said to himself, seeing that it was his friend Izuru Kira.  He hated getting his styled hair wet and it had been misting earlier that night.

“Yo, just a minute,” he said, opening the door and grinning.  “Please tell me you brought something besides ramen and frozen vegetables…”

The impact sent him backward nearly into the sofa Renji and Ichigo were sitting on.  They both jumped to their feet and saw that Hisagi had been knocked completely out and a figure stood in the doorway.  Ichigo grabbed Renji’s arm because he recognized him all too well.

“Ronny,” he breathed and felt Renji’s arm tighten.

“Baby, why are they hidin’ you from me?” he said, stepping into the room and grinning. 

His features were even more drawn and sallow than they had been before.  His eyes were hollow and bloodshot.  Before he even got close, both Ichigo and Renji could smell stale alcohol and ammonia wafting from him.

Renji pushed Ichigo behind him and got between him and Aaroniero.  “You need to leave,” he said, swallowing the fear that was crawling up his throat.  He was a fucking barista.  He didn’t fight, and this guy was fucking insane looking.

“No, you see, you have my Ichigo.  He belongs to me.  He’s belonged to me from the day he was nine years old and I looked down into those beautiful eyes of his.  I should have taken him then, but I still didn’t understand how deep my need for him went…” he said, grinning and showing a mouth of pitted, dark teeth.

Renji jerked unconsciously backward, slamming Ichigo into the window.  “The fuck, man, you getting off on a kid?  You are one sick mother fucker.  Bad enough he was fifteen when you went for him…”

“Oh yes, those beautiful eyes.  Your eyes aren’t bad, red,” he said, stepping over the sofa and grabbing Renji’s throat.

Ichigo slipped out from behind him and grabbed the lamp.  “Ronny, stop, let him go!” he yelled before he threw the lamp at him.

Aaroniero turned and grinned at him.  He gripped Renji’s throat tighter and swung him around.  He flipped him easily over himself and slammed him through the wood coffee table with a crash.  Renji cried out in obvious pain before Aaroniero picked him up by the throat again, this time, pulling a scalpel from his coat pocket and sliding it over Renji’s cheekbone.  Renji grabbed him by the forearm but between the shock of being slammed through a wooden table and lack of air, he couldn’t get a decent grip.

“I’ll give you the choice, Ichigo, I’ll take them,” he said, pressing the tip of the scalpel at the corner of Renji’s eye.  “Or I take you.”

Ichigo shook his head, “Leave him, please, just leave him.”

“I’ll take them from the red head, then from the other one, while you watch, and then I’ll kill them.  Or, you can come with me, and I’ll leave them as they are,” he said.

“I’ll go, please, just don’t hurt them, Ronny,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest and trembling.

There was a crash and Ichigo looked up to see that Aaroniero had knocked Renji out with another lamp.  He yanked out the cord and tied him up and drug him to one of the bedrooms.  Then he came and grabbed the lamp Ichigo had thrown and pulled the cord from that one and bound up Hisagi, dragging him off to the other bedroom.  He shut the doors and then came toward Ichigo and grabbed him by his arm in a painful grip.

“Now, you will come with me, it is time we finish things, my dear, sweet, brown eyed love,” he whispered and Ichigo felt his blood freeze.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Luna was sitting at the table with the paper when the news caught her attention from the living room where Luppi was watching it.

“Authorities have declined to comment, but from what we understand a building owned by local businessman Sōsuke Aizen was involved in some sort of chemical assault and raid earlier tonight.  Residents report waking up in the hospital and being released.  They have been told there was a carbon monoxide leak in the building, but it doesn’t seem to match up with what the witnesses are saying.  Other residents saw black clad figures infiltrate the building from above and from ground level before ambulances started arriving to take people to the hospital…”

Luna frowned and grabbed her phone, dialing Urahara again.  “Yes?” came the curt answer.

“I saw the news…have you gotten him?” she asked nervously.

“No, Luna, I am sorry, I’m sending a couple agents over to pick the three of you up right now.  It is not safe for you there,” he said, the line going dead.

Luna nodded.  “Luppi, get an overnight bag for you and Tesla,” she said, standing.

“Where are we going?” he asked, frowning as he stood up.

“Just on a little trip to see a friend,” she said smiling fondly at him as she headed to her own room to collect a bag.

She sighed, stopping for a second to stare at the photo of her late husband.  She wasn’t sure exactly what they were running from, but she knew she had to keep Luppi and Tesla safe.  A few moments later she came back out just as Luppi came out with a bag on each shoulder.

“Will we be gone long, Luna?” he asked, frowning.  “I got that shoe modeling gig, and…”

Luna smiled, patting his head.  “We’ll make it.  We’re not leaving town.”

She went to where Tesla sat on the chair and kneeled in front of him.  “Sweetie,” she said, and he looked up with his one eye at her.  “We’ve got to leave the apartment for a while, are you going to be okay with it?”

Luppi nodded. “I’ll go with you,” he said clearly, surprising Luna.  Luna smiled at him and nodded. 

They waited a few more minutes until there was a knock at the door and Luna’s phone buzzed in her hand.  She had a very simple one, but she could still get text messages.  It said that the agents should be there now.  She opened the door to find two women, or one woman and one very beautiful man, she realized.

“Good evening,” the first said, her hair short and cut to frame a very cherubish looking face and bright green.  She wore a low cut blouse that showed off her busty figure and a pair of stretch pants.  “I’m Mashiro, and we’re going to take you to the safe house!” she said cheerily.

“And I’m Rose,” the second figure said, his voice almost musical in quality.  He had long, light brown hair that flowed down his back in soft waves.  He wore a three piece business suit in blue pinstripes, in complete opposition to his flowing hair.

Luna nodded.  “I’m Luna, and this is Luppi,” she said pointing to the young man beside her.  She glanced over at Tesla.  “And Tesla is over there at the moment.  Allow me to get him,” she said, smiling.

Mashiro rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet and looked around at things while Rose stood at the doorway quietly. 

After a few moments, Luna and her two wards were headed out of the complex.  She paused and grabbed the master keys from the office, though.  She was certain that the authorities would want in the apartment that had been Aaroniero’s and Ichigo’s.  The trip was surprisingly short, but they pulled up in front of the Candy Shoppe.  Everyone got out and Mashiro skipped along beside Luna as she took them down to the safe house below.  Luna found herself smiling at the young woman, despite the situation.  She was a breath of fresh air for her in this otherwise dreary, awful situation.

They came into the safe house and Mashiro showed them to one of the bedrooms.  “Here you go, Miss Luna.  We’ve got a few others here as well, Ichigo’s old friends, so you can socialize as you like.  Mister Kisuke wants to talk to you, though, after you get settled.  I’ll be up in the store with Mister Rose.  Bye!” she said, grinning and waving enthusiastically as she skipped out of the room.

Luna got everything situated.  The bedroom had two double beds, a television with cable and a DVD player, and two dressers.  A couple closets were on one side, and she saw a door to the bathroom on the other one.  What an interesting place, she thought.  She smiled at Luppi.

“I’ll be back, then I’ll try and explain what’s happened, when I know more,” Luna said, patting Luppi on the back.

Luppi smiled and sat on the end of one of the beds and turned on the TV.  Tesla had sat on the other and pulled all the covers up and around him as he watched everyone carefully.  Luna came out and saw a young man with glasses and dark hair walking out of the room across from her.

“Excuse me, which way is Urahara’s office?” she asked.

Uryuu stopped, not realizing that there were others coming to the safe house.  “Uh, down and to the left, right near the door that you came in,” he said, nodding curtly and heading back down the other way.

Luna followed the directions and found an open door that she could hear voices from the inside.  One was Urahara’s voice, but the others she didn’t know.  She knocked on the doorframe gently.

Urahara looked up from where he was standing with his back to the door. “Oh, Luna, come in.”  She came in and nodded.  “I’ll introduce you, Luna, this is Renji and Grimmjow, they were taking care of Ichigo.  This is Hisagi, one of my agents that was stationed with Ichigo, and this is Yoruichi, my most trusted friend and associate, and this fellow with the white hair is Jushiro.  Jushiro is the head of our trauma and abuse team.”  Luna shook hands politely with everyone and smiled back at them.

“This is Luna, she’s the owner of the building that Ichigo was living at,” he explained, nodding to them.

“We need to get in there,” Grimmjow said, wringing his hands nervously.  “We need to find him, Urahara.  Fast.”

Luna frowned.  “Find him?  What’s happened?”

“Aaroniero broke into Grimmjow’s apartment where we were keeping Ichigo.  He knocked Renji and Hisagi out, and took Ichigo.  We don’t know where they are right now,” Urahara explained.  “I’m about to mobilize a team, and we’d like to ask your permission to enter the apartment.”

Luna nodded, digging in her pocket and handing Urahara the master key. “I thought you might want to do that. Please, if it helps find that poor boy.”

“Thank you,” Urahara said with a smile.  “I brought Yoruichi and Jushiro in to help with your boy, Tesla, as well as to be here when we bring in Ichigo.  We have a full medical bay here, and we can’t chance a hospital unless his condition is critical.  So, I’ll let you talk to these two, and I’ll take Grimmjow and meet the team at your building.  Thank you, Luna,” he said, bowing out with Grimmjow right behind him.

Renji and Hisagi followed close behind.  “I want to go,” Renji said.

“You’re not in any condition.  We can handle this, I’ve got a full forensics team on their way as well as a couple other captains.  Now, please, stay here, rest.  Both of you,” Urahara said in a tone that brokered no arguments from either.

He quickly led Grimmjow to his SUV and they arrived just as another SUV pulled up.  Captain Shunsui Kyōraku from the drugs division and Captain Byakuya Kuchiki from the Homicide division stepped out followed by the forensics team.  Shunsui, a man with messy brown hair down to his shoulders and a pink kimono as a jacket, was a very laid back individual, but was very good at his job.  Byakuya, however, was in complete opposition.  His black hair was neat as a pin, and he wore an immaculate suit with a tie all the time.  Byakuya’s specialty was serial killers, and he was also the profiler for the shinigami. 

With them, they had brought the forensics team, which consisted of Nemu Kurosuchi, the dark haired daughter of Mayuri Kurosuchi.  Captain Kurosuchi was waiting to be debriefed from his time undercover.  The other two members of the team had also come, Rin Tsubokura, a small and nervous young man who specialized in DNA and genetics, and Akon, a tall thin looking man with dermal implants on his forehead to look like small horns.  He wore his black hair short, and had a myriad of piercings and tattoos everywhere else.  He was one of the best in the shinigami at evidence collection.  He tended to catch things that others missed.  He had also, for some reason, changed his name to be Akon, with no other name.  He was definitely one of the more unusual figures the shinigami hosted.

Urahara came up and nodded at them.  “Everyone, we have a missing person.  We need to not only preserve evidence, but we need to find anything that could lead us to this man’s whereabouts and his victim.  We are on the clock, so we want this fast, but do not sacrifice accuracy for speed.  Do this right the first time.  It may be the only chance we have.”

With that he led everyone up to the apartment.  Before he unlocked it, Rin took shoe covers and gloves out of his case and handed them out.  Once everyone was ready, Urahara unlocked the door and hit the light.

What surprised everyone was how normal and nice it looked, except Byakuya.  Walking into the home of serial killer, people who didn’t deal with them often expected some sort of indication right away.  There usually wasn’t.  The place was a very nice one bedroom apartment.  Inside the door, it opened to the left with a wide living room.  There were plenty of gadgets on the shelves, a big TV, and game systems.  The furniture was pristine and pearl white.  To the left, the dining room sat with a large formal setting and the door into a neat kitchen.  Everything was in its place, and it almost seemed too neat.

“This place has been scrubbed?” Rin asked curiously as he looked around.

Urahara shook his head.  “No, this was how it had to be all the time,” he said, already getting into the headspace of Ichigo.  He tended to empathize and view scenes from the victim’s point of view.

He walked into the kitchen, dragging a hand over the counter, closing his eyes for a second.  “Ronny is an abuser.  He uses the cleanliness of the apartment to retain control of him.  Things have to be just right.  He’s very particular.”

Urahara opened the cabinet to see impeccably organized and labeled shelves.  Every shelf had a label showing what was supposed to be placed on it.  Rin followed, snapping evidence pictures as they went.  In the sink there was a single plate and fork, the plate broken.

“Ronny was angry that he wasn’t here to do his chores.  That’s why he left and didn’t return.  Without him here, this place wasn’t complete,” Urahara said.

Slowly, they went through the entire apartment, finding much the same things throughout.  Rin had taken samples from all the drains in case something had been poured down them.  Inside the toilet tank reservoir, they found a bag of crystal meth hidden with a pipe and lighter.  It was nearly empty.  The last place was the bedroom, and they hoped they would find anything that might tell them where he’d gone.

As they began going over the room, Urahara went in the closet to see if there was anything as Nemu hit the lights after spraying with the luminol and pulling out the UV.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he heard Akon mutter, which was odd, because Akon rarely spoke when on a scene.

Urahara turned around and blinked.  “Photograph it all.  Strip the bed down to the mattress.  Check the walls in the other rooms with the luminol.”

Urahara was sick.  He had never seen a room light up so much…granted, some of it was seminal fluid, and some could have been a reaction to bleach.  Still, the amount was more than he wanted to see.  Grimmjow was standing in the corner just staring.  After almost three hours, the entire apartment had been gone through, samples taken from almost every room, and every nook and cranny searched.  They had found nothing out of place, which of course was in itself unusual. 

“He’s the Eye Thief.  He removes the eyes and takes them as trophies,” Byakuya said, standing in the center of the apartment and turning in a slow circle.  “He kept Ichigo here, meaning he would have kept his trophies here.”

Urahara nodded, frowning himself.  It wouldn’t make sense for him to keep the trophies elsewhere.  Everything was too perfect.  Only the broken plate in the sink indicated disorder.  Akon was wandering back and forth through the rooms when he stopped and looked up.  The ceiling was lowered and had the tiles that could be popped out. 

“One of the tiles,” he muttered.  “That’s the only place.”

About fifteen minutes of checking every tile led them to frustration.  Finally, though, they heard Byakuya from the bedroom.  “In here, the closet.  Bring me an evidence box.”

Urahara grabbed one and folded it together and went in, telling the others to stay out of there.  After about fifteen minutes Urahara came out looking rather pale, and Byakuya walked behind him looking stoic as usual.  He grabbed the lid and put it on the box.  “We need to take this to the Serietei and see if this helps us.  We’ve got jars of eyes, a journal, a photo album, and a scrapbook, along with a few other things.  I want to take it to a clean room, however.”

Everyone agreed, even though Grimmjow grumbled that he wanted to look at it now, not later.  He had to admit, getting the evidence checked in and labeled was important.  After what seemed like forever, when it was only an hour, Urahara came out and told Grimmjow he could come back as they looked at what they’d found.  The forensics team had already taken swabs, scrapings, and samples of everything. 

On the table were all the things they’d brought back from the apartment.  Grimmjow grimaced because there were twenty three jars of liquid, most likely formaldehyde, sealed and with each one wrapped with different colored ribbons.  Inside each jar was a pair of eyes, except one, which only had one eye in it.  Each jar was meticulously labeled with a date, the name of the victim, and a list of properties of the eyes.  Each one listed the color, smell, weight, size, and disturbingly enough, taste.  Grimmjow shivered. 

“This level of organization isn’t unusual for serial killers,” Byakuya said from where he was standing to the side making notes on a clipboard.

Urahara sighed and handed a photo album to Grimmjow.  “I have to warn you, are you sure you want to look at this stuff?  It gets very disturbing.  Technically, the only reason you’re here is you’re one of my agents.  I should order you to leave.”

Grimmjow swallowed.  “No, I need to know.  I have to find out what’s going on with this guy and make some sense out of this.”

Urahara nodded and sat down beside him.

First was the photo album.  Every picture had the faces scratched out.  They were obviously very old photos of what looked like a rich family.  As Grimmjow thumbed through it, there were notes, about the people, it seemed, all in ink pen, most likely Aaroniero.  There was a family tree toward the end, and Grimmjow frowned. 

“Am I looking at a royal family tree, because this fucking family tree is twisted as fuck…cousins marrying cousins, aunts marrying nephews, uncles marrying nieces, what the hell?” Grimmjow muttered.

Urahara handed him perhaps the creepiest scrapbook ever next.  There were some photos in it, mostly of what Grimmjow recognized as Ichigo’s eyes.  They were enlarged and cut out and pasted into it.  There were magazine pages with eyes cut out, and several pages of disturbing drawings of eyes.  There were also pages where it looked like he’d drawn very technical drawings of eyes, as though he were some sort of eye doctor.  Grimmjow shook his head and picked up the leather bound journal.

“Listen to this,” Grimmjow said after a few moments.  Both Urahara and Byakuya looked up from their own perusing of the other books to listen. 

“He told me to take the eyes, so he could see.  I don’t want to listen to him, but he’s always there, in my head, and he says he needs eyes to see by.  I don’t want to take my baby’s eyes.  But he wants me to find him so he can have them,” Grimmjow said, grimacing as he spoke.  “Later on,” he said.  “Kaien, his name is Kaien, and I have to get him those pretty eyes.  He’s everything I am not, and I will make him part of me.  Kaien will be happy from now on, I just know it, if I can get him those eyes.  Then he won’t want me to take my baby’s eyes.”  Grimmjow flipped a few pages.  “The bastard has my baby!  Not only am I going to take his eyes, I’m taking everything he is, and I’m going to have what I want.  Now, if he’d shut up and let me sleep.”

“He hears a voice,” Byakuya noted.  “Schizophrenia, perhaps.  No surprise looking at the family tree in this book.  His parents were cousins, and so were their parents before them.  Mental health problems are exacerbated by inbreeding in families.  I haven’t seen one this bad in a long time.”

Grimmjow shook his head and put it down.  “How does this help us find Ichigo?” he was getting frustrated.  He wanted to go look for him.  He wanted to do it now.

“Grimmjow, there may be something in one of these things, a picture, a reference to a place, we can’t just go blindly searching everywhere, it will waste more time than we have.  The answer is here.  We just have to find it,” Urahara said with a soft smile.  “You don’t have to help us, you can go back to the safe house…” he began.

“Fuck you, Urahara.  I’m not leaving, I’m going to find that bastard and if he’s hurt Ichigo again, I’m going to probably kill him,” Grimmjow growled, sitting back in the chair to read every single insanity filled page in this psychotic bastard’s journal.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo was scared, more than ever before.  As soon as they’d left Grimmjow’s building, Ronny had tied his hands behind his back and then put a blindfold and gag on him before shoving him into the backseat of his car.  They drove a long time; Ichigo wasn’t sure how long, but he couldn’t help but feel tears well now and then.  The silence was worse than if Ronny had started screaming and yelling like he usually did when he was angry.

Finally they stopped and Ichigo felt him yank him forcefully out of the back seat and pull him along after him.  The air here smelled bad, really bad, and he kept tripping on something hard.  Broken concrete perhaps…  Finally he felt Ronny untying his hands, but his relief was short lived as he felt cold metal and a snap of a handcuff on his wrist.  He yanked his arm over and heard the other snap.

Ronny pulled off the blindfold and the gag and smiled at him.  Ichigo blinked at the sudden light exposure and he saw that he was in some sort of warehouse.  The room reeked of something Ichigo couldn’t identify.  There was a dingy cot beside him and a single chair in front of him.  Ronny pulled the chair around and had him sit down.  Ichigo glanced up and saw that his wrist was chained to a steel pole in the center of the room.  There was about six feet of chain between the two pair of handcuffs that connected the chain.  There was a blue portapotty sitting within range of that length of chain, as was the cot.  He meant for him to stay here, like this…

“Baby, baby, beautiful baby,” he said, kneeling down and holding Ichigo’s face and smiling at him.  “I have never been so scared as when they took you away, I didn’t know how much I’d miss you, baby.”

Ichigo didn’t know what to make of this.  He was being kind and gentle.  “I’m sorry, I should have protected you better.  But I’ve gotta plan.  Don’t worry.  No one’s ever gonna take us apart again, this time, there’s no doubt.  I’m gonna make sure you’re with me forever,” he said, grinning, his fetid breath nearly making Ichigo gag.  His eyes were watering from the smell.

“Yes, I had to make a new collection, cuz I couldn’t go back home if you weren’t there, see?” he said, gesturing to a table where there were about thirty jars of liquid with sets of eyes bobbing in them.  “I couldn’t label ‘em right, and I don’t like the quality of most of ‘em, but they’re better than nothing, he shut up once I got more eyes, and that’s good, I don’t want him bothering us, you know,” he said, leaning forward and kissing Ichigo’s cheek. 

“Wh-what are you planning?” Ichigo stammered, blinking owlishly at him.

“They’re gonna keep pulling us apart, we gotta…gotta be one you know, and then he’ll shut up too, and quit…quit tellin’ me what to do,” Ronny said, his eyes wide and completely dilated.

Ichigo licked his lips nervously. “I don’t understand.”

“See,” he said, leaning forward and caressing Ichigo’s eyelids.  “See, I can’t lose my best prize, and we can’t…we can’t live like this…so I been practicing.  I’m gonna take these pretty eyes of yours, and then I’m going to take mine.  I’ll put them together in a pretty little glass bottle.  Then we’ll never be apart again.  The eyes, the eyes, they aren’t the window to the soul, he says…he says they are the soul.  That’s why…why I gotta put them together.  I gotta merge our souls.  Then, it doesn’t matter what happens to our bodies.  Gonna take them and we’ll dive off the building together, and once these…these bodies they’re dead, then our souls live on forever, baby!  My prize, precious, lovely, eyes, souls together…always…” he said, grinning broadly. 

Ichigo stared at him for a moment before he started to panic.  He was really going to kill them both.  He was going to do it.

Suddenly, his face changed and he slapped Ichigo hard enough to send him sprawling out of the chair to the floor.  “Your fault, you little fucking brat.  If you’d listened to me, this wouldn’t have happened.  No, you gotta be this way,” he said, reaching down and grabbing Ichigo by the hair and pulling him to his feet.  He grinned at him, face changing to incredible softeness and his hand that was wrapped in his hair began to caress his head instead.  “So before I make our souls one, let’s partake of our early pleasures again,” he said, pressing his mouth against him.

Ichigo tried to push him away, but instead he found himself flung to the floor.  He screamed and then Ronny’s face changed again and he punched him square in the mouth, sending blood flying.  “Stop, I don’t need you alive to fuck you,” he growled at him and Ichigo froze.  “One last ride, baby,” he said he fumbled with Ichigo’s clothes.

There was no one to hear Ichigo’s pleas.  No one at all.


	10. Breaking His Chains

 

Grimmjow was about to have a mental breakdown from reading this stuff, he was sure of it.  He rubbed his eyes and leaned back in the chair as he laid the journal down.  Pages and pages and pages of rambling about eyes, removing eyes, this “Kaien” that spoke to him, and Ichigo.  It was creepy and disturbing on levels he’d never imagined possible.  There had even been a treatise on the pleasures of rolling an eyeball around in his mouth.  Grimmjow nearly vomited in that section and had to take a long break and stiff drink… 

“Nothing but crazy,” he said sighing.  “Nothing about places or people or anything.”

Byakuya had gone to investigate titles and deeds at the records building.  He came back in and dropped a few thick files to the table.  “The family _was_ rich, but they lost most of their money and fortune while Aaroniero was a child.  It is very possible that he would use one of the businesses that they at one time owned.  We know his family was rather sure of themselves and had a great deal of pride.  He might remember some of the places.”

Urahara nodded, grabbing one of the files and handing another to Grimmjow.  “Look for anything that is outside the main roads, shut down, and out of the way.”

After about another hour, they’d picked out seventeen possible locations.  “Still too many to go to one by one.  Byakuya, send out scout teams to locate the most likely sites,” Urahara said as he thumbed through the seventeen properties.  Two auto part warehouses, a steel mill, seven rental properties they had once owned, three rice preparation facilities, and four miscellaneous warehouses.  All seventeen were condemned, shut down, and outside the main roads of the city.

Byakuya nodded.  “Good idea, Kisuke, I’ll send out pairs from the on duty agents.  I think we’ve got maybe six teams like that.  The furthest point is an hour from here, so they should all have reported in by then.”

“It’s going to be after two am before we can even leave?” Grimmjow said, rubbing his eyes.

Urahara smiled.  “This is the safest and fastest way, Grimmjow.  Why don’t you go back to the safe house and pick up Renji.  We might need the two of you to handle Ichigo if we find him in bad condition.”

The truth was, he just really wanted Grimmjow out of his hair while they were searching.  He was too worried and irritable, snapping at everyone as they bothered him.  He had wondered where Grimmjow’s feelings has lain, whether he really had a bond with this Ichigo or cared about what happened to him, or if it was just completion of a revenge fantasy.  He was sure now.  Grimmjow’s heart was with the younger man.  He patted Grimmjow on the back then shoved him toward the door.

“Okay, yeah, I’ll do that,” Grimmjow stammered and walked toward the exit to go get to Renji.

The drive didn’t take too terribly long, and on the way Grimmjow kept thinking about what he was doing.  Then it dawned on him.  Somewhere between trying to protect someone that was vulnerable and needed help and today, he’d given up his heart and didn’t think twice about it.  It didn’t start out that way.  It might have with Renji, because he was relatively sure that Renji had a crush on Ichigo for a long time the way he’d talked about him.  Grimmjow, though, he hadn’t known him at all.  There was something there that first triggered his protective nature, and kissing him for the first time really surprised him.  He and Renji hadn’t had a chance to talk about it, but he didn’t think that Renji had issue with him wanting to love him as well.  He’d never been in a polyamorous relationship before, and he always heard they were doomed.  He didn’t think they were if the love was real.  He shook the thoughts away as he pulled up in front of the Candy Shoppe and headed inside with a sigh.  Once in the back, he found Renji sitting with the others at the dining room table.

Renji got up and practically ran over to him.  “Did you find him?” he asked frantically.

“Not yet, Ren, but we might have an idea.  Urahara sent me to get you so you can come with us when we check the best locations,” he said, smiling at him.

Renji nodded.  “Okay, let’s go,” he said.

“Um,” Luna said from where she got up from the table.  “I’m just wondering why you need him, isn’t he a civilian?” she asked, confused by it.

Grimmjow nodded.  “Yeah, but the thing is, Ichigo flips on anyone who tries to get near him if he’s not totally with it.  And Renji’s the person he trusts enough to call when he needs someone, so, yeah…” he said, not wanting to go into why exactly.

“I’m curious too,” Uryuu said, standing up and coming over to them.  “What are you two so involved for anyway?  I get trying to help him, but you got him to the authorities, and they’re looking for him, what’s your connection to all this?” he said, glancing between them.  “I mean, I get that Renji worked with him, and all that, but aren’t you Renji’s roommate?” he said, looking at Grimmjow.

Grimmjow and Renji exchanged glances.  “I…I have almost an hour before we know anything,” Grimmjow said.   “I…I think I could use some coffee,” he said, rubbing his tired eyes.  “I can explain a few things, I think.”

Luna smiled and headed to the kitchen while Renji and Grimmjow sat down at the table.  Renji was a little worried, he had never seen Grimmjow look this drained and worried by something in the whole time he’d known each other.  A few minutes later, Luna came out with a tray of cups and a coffee pot and teapot.  Uryuu sat down with them.  The others had already gone to bed for the night.

Grimmjow took the coffee gratefully.  “Renji was the one Ichi called when he got so badly hurt by Ronny.”  He really had no idea why he was talking.  He just felt the need to unburden himself after everything he’d just read in those journals.  If he did it now, there would be fewer questions later, he knew all too well.  “I just happened to go with him that night.  I didn’t…I didn’t expect it to happen like it did…” he said, slowly sipping the coffee while Renji watched him. 

“Grimm, what are you talking about?” Renji asked, slowly.

“I mean, I feel like an interloper, Renji,” he said, sighing.  “Like I’m taking something that I shouldn’t.”

Renji shook his head, frowning deeply.  “I don’t understand.”

“I…I didn’t even ask you.  Before I kissed him,” he said, staring into the cup and swirling the coffee around.  “You were the one that went after him, and then…I just…”

Renji sighed, rolling his eyes. “Whoa there, big guy, don’t start that bullshit.”

Grimmjow looked up, arching one blue brow at Renji.  “Just hold it right there.  You’re acting like Ichi was mine to claim.  He wasn’t.  You can just stop that train of thought before it gets to the fucking station, goddamn fuck-headed idiot.”

Grimmjow looked at him with wide eyes.  “I didn’t mean…I mean I know…”

“Shut up you buffoon,” Renji said glaring at him as he sipped his own tea.  “We both started this because of where we came from.  Neither of us could help the fact that we came to adore and love the fucking boy.”

Grimmjow swallowed hard and nodded.  “Yeah, I just… I saw my brother’s face at first.  After my dad killed him when he passed out in that hallway and I just…I had to save someone else from that fate.”

Luna looked up.  “You had to watch your brother die?” she asked, a bit shocked at the revelation.

Grimmjow nodded.  “Me, my sister Nel, and my brother Illfordt were orphans, adopted by this amazing woman.  But her husband…he drank and he beat the shit outta her again and again, and then started in on us.  He really hated my little brother.  I don’t know why, probably because he was my mother’s favorite.  But we were all blonde, and he hated that more than anything because his mother had been blonde and used to abuse him.  He was so violent…then one night…”  Grimmjow chugged down the rest of his coffee and poured another one for himself.  “So when I saw Ichigo…beaten up like that…I just couldn’t let it go.”

Luna moved and sat down beside him, putting a gentle arm on his shoulders.  “I’m so sorry.  I don’t remember my mother.  I was left with my aunt and uncle as a baby when she ran from him.  Unfortunately, he found her, and they found her body in a dumpster wrapped in a garbage bag.  It was just after they found my father had killed himself in a hotel room, leaving apology and confession of what he’d done to her.  He was sorry, in the end.  I…I am glad that I was not old enough to know what was happening.”

Grimmjow nodded, sipping his coffee as she continued.  “After that, my aunt and uncle helped others.  It is hard to watch others suffer.  I learned to help others.  You, my dear, are a good man to have felt so deeply a need to help one suffering so,” she said, squeezing his shoulders.

Uryuu swirled his tea in his cup and looked up.  “So you love him, like really do love him?” he asked quietly.  “Both of you?”

Both Renji and Grimmjow looked up at him. “I…yes,” Grimmjow answered, glancing at Renji who nodded to him.

Uryuu nodded, looking at his teacup again.  “Okay, because, as his friends we screwed up once already and…I don’t want to see it happen again.  I should have been a better friend to him.  We should have been better friends, and I want him to be safe and happy, so if he’s happy with you two, then, that’s fine.  But I want to know how he feels.”

Grimmjow nodded.  “Yeah, because I don’t think he knows for sure how he feels right now….”

Renji nodded.  “He’s not required to do anything, but…I want to help him, I want to take care of him…” he said, glancing at Grimmjow.  “If he chooses to stay with you, that’s okay with me, you know, if he doesn’t want us both.”

Grimmjow smiled at him.  “And if he chooses you, that’s okay with me too.”

They sat and talked about nothing for a few more minutes until Grimmjow slid his cup back and stood up.  “Alright, hopefully, when I get back with you, they’ll have somewhere to look.  I can’t…I just can’t talk about what I saw yet, but I’m sure once we catch this sick fucker, I’ll need to talk about it.  A lot,” he muttered standing and bowing slightly to the others. 

Renji nodded, waving to Luna and Uryuu and followed Grimmjow out of the safe house.  Luna sat down and rubbed her leg thoughtfully when she crossed her legs.  Uryuu was about to walk back to his room when he noted a scar on her leg.  “What in the world was that from?” he asked, curiously.  His father was a doctor, and  he’d seen a lot of scars in his years. 

Luna blinked and glanced down at the spot she’d been rubbing.  “Oh, a botfly larvae I hosted.  I let it stay until it pupated instead of having it extracted.”

Uryuu frowned.  “Wow, that’s…odd, most people don’t let a parasite feed off them…” he muttered.

“I’m not most people,” she said, smiling and standing up to head to bed herself.  She had a feeling that things were going to be busy the next day.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The ride back was surprisingly quiet for both Renji and Grimmjow, and when they pulled up to the outside, there were people pouring out of the building and getting into cars rapidly.

Urahara came running over.  “We’ve got three locations that were active.  We’re hitting them all at once.  Follow someone if you like, Shunsui is leading one team, I’m leading another, and Byakuya at third.”

Grimmjow nodded and lost track in the dark of who went wear and he followed one of the black SUV’s at random.  He had no idea who was in it, but he at least felt like they were doing something.  The tension in the care was intense because both men knew that this was what was going to save Ichigo.  One of these teams, hopefully, would find Aaroniero and Ichigo, and hopefully in time before it was too late.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo wept for a long time after Ronny left him alone.  He had no idea where he’d gone to, and he didn’t care, he was gone, that was all that mattered.  Finally he sat up on the cot and wiped his eyes, looking around the place he was in.  He had realized what the smell was, it was motor oil.  He put his bare feet on the cold concrete floor and saw there was sawdust everywhere.  So that was the odd smell, oil and sawdust.  He stood up shakily, his legs not too steady and his head even less so.  He sighed and pulled on the handcuff finding it almost too tight, so no chance of breaking his hand to pull it out.  He followed the chain up to the pipe it had been attached to and pulled hard on it.  No good, he thought, it wasn’t going to give at all.  He sighed and sat down. 

Was this it?  Was this the last day of his life?  He couldn’t imagine anything after today, so maybe it was.  He would die here, in an old abandoned warehouse because he was stupid beyond measure and let himself be hurt by someone.  If he’d only been brave enough to walk away…he thought to himself.  Another voice in his head countered that argument though, reminding him that Ronny would have killed his family in an instant.  He’d had no choice.  He sighed deeply and yanked hard on the chain again. 

Ichigo heard yelling and looked up to see Ronny drag a struggling woman who was gagged into the light around him.  She was most likely a homeless woman, wearing rags and smelling strongly of filth as she got nearer to them.  Ichigo watched in horror as Ronny shoved her into the chair he had set just outside of Ichigo’s range of movement. 

“Ronny?” he asked, as he watched Ronny handcuff the struggling woman to the chair.

Ronny smiled at him.  “She’s got pretty eyes,” he said as the woman screamed against the gag.  “Pretty, pretty eyes…” he muttered, placing his hands on her face and then staring at her.

“No, no more, Ronny!  Please, stop this!” he screamed.  “Don’t kill anyone else!”

Ronny turned and glared at Ichigo and then ran over and elbowed him in the mouth.  “Don’t speak to me that way,” he said as Ichigo stumbled backward clutching his bleeding mouth.  “Don’t.  I will take as many as he tells me to take.”

Ichigo watched him as he stalked back to the terrified woman.  “P-please, no, Ronny!” he practically shrieked as he pulled out a scalpel.  Ronny turned back at him and proceeded anyway, meticulously removing the woman’s eyes while she screamed into the gag.  Ichigo had no idea how he kept her head still, but was reminded of the unnatural strength he seemed to possess.

When it was done, he slit her throat and left her in the chair.  He held up the dingy jar at the floating orbs in the red tinted water.  “Not as nice as I’d like, but good enough,” he said, putting the jar down.  He drug the woman and the chair away and then started placing the jars of eyes in a circle around in the area of the brightest light.  He pulled a large mirror over and then another steel chair.  He grabbed the chair that was within Ichigo’s range and pulled it into the circle.  It looked like some sort of weird ritual circle.  The entire time, Ronny muttered under his breath, too low for Ichigo to hear.  Finally, he looked up and smiled at Ichigo. 

“Time baby,” he said, and grabbed Ichigo’s hand with the handcuff.  He unlocked it and Ichigo immediately tried to pull away but instead he felt the bones in his wrist snap painfully as Ronny’s grip tightened.  Ichigo screamed as he dragged him to the chair and handcuffed his wrists and ankles to it.  He gagged him with a bandana and then smiled, pulling a small table beside him.

He opened the kit and took out the eye speculums.  Ichigo flinched because he knew them well.  There had been several occasions that Ronny had put them on Ichigo for his own amusement.  Ichigo knew better than to struggle.  He was deathly still as he affixed the two speculums on Ichigo’s eyes and smiled at him.

“So lovely…” he whispered.

He turned and picked up a crystal vase, this one filled with what Ichigo could smell was formaldehyde, and set it on the small table.  He then put a pan of clean water beside it.  He turned back.

“I’ll cleanse them first, then put them in the jar.  Then, we’ll follow that rope,” he said, pointing to a rope that had been tied to the stairwell and led to the floor by Ronny’s feet.  “I’ll follow it up to the roof and we’ll die together in body, and our souls will forever stay together, here in this beautiful vase of eternal life…” he said, eyes looking wistful.

Ichigo’s heart couldn’t beat any faster.  He was going to die.  Right here, right now.  Once he was blinded, he couldn’t escape, what was the point?  Suddenly he smiled and nodded, seeing Ronny’s face light up.  It was okay.  It really was.  It would be over, all of it.  Ronny wouldn’t hurt anyone again, and he’d pass out of this life into another, hopefully one where he could be happy and loved.  He was ready after all.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Grimmjow pulled the car in beside the black SUV they’d followed to an out of the way abandoned auto parts warehouse.  The light inside had been what had made this an option.  Grimmjow and Renji got out and saw they had followed Shunsui and his team, a woman named Nanao, and a couple men that neither Grimmjow nor Renji had met before.  They moved up where SHusui was giving orders.  He saw the two of them. 

“You two, stay back until we confirm if we have a hot site or not,” he started.  Grimmjow shook his head. 

“No chance, I’m going in with you.  I want first crack at this bastard,” Grimmjow said firmly.

Renji, a bit nervous but bolstered by Grimmjow.  “Yeah, and if Ichi is in there, someone needs to take care of him.”

Shunsui sighed.  “Stay with me,” he said, not really surprised.  He motioned for the others to go ahead and scout directly.

“Confirmed!  Location hot!” came the answer they’d been looking for in his earpiece.  Shunsui pulled his guns and nodded to Renji and Grimmjow, heading into the building carefully. 

They managed to get into the place easily enough.  It seemed Ronny wasn’t thinking about people finding him.  Shunsui noted several bodies discarded as they moved through the front of the building.  They were all missing their eyes. Finally they came into the main warehouse room.  Renji gripped Grimmjow’s arm tightly as they came into view of the scene in the center of the floor. 

Shunsui held an arm out.  “Aaroniero Arruruerie, we have you surrounded, drop the knife and step back, hands above your head!” he announced, stepping into the light with both pistols drawn.

Grimmjow and Renji both circled around the room while Ronny looked up, focused on Shunsui.  “What are you doing here?  Leave us alone!  We’re going to be together forever!” he screamed, but looked up as he saw Renji and Grimmjow in the shadows.  He growled, picking up the scalpel and plunging it downward into Ichigo’s chest, causing him to scream against the gag.  Ronny then ran toward the door, somehow avoiding the bullets fired at him.

Renji ran for Ichigo, and Grimmjow ran for Ronny, followed closely by Shunsui.  Ichigo was gasping and blinking as blood poured down his chest from where Ronny had plunged the scalpel.  Renji didn’t know what to do but Nanao came up and pushed him aside, looking it over.

“It’s okay, not deep enough to puncture the lung, he’s going to be fine,” she said, removing the blade and covering the wound with a gauze bandage while one of the other agents removed the handcuffs.

A few minutes later, a call for an ambulance had been called in, and Renji was sitting holding Ichigo in his lap on the floor.  Ichigo looked up at him and smiled before he passed out.  Renji clutched him all the tighter as he waited.

Outside, it didn’t take long for Grimmjow to catch up with the fleeing Ronny, and he flat out tackled him to the ground.  A few minutes of struggling with each other, both men got to their feet.

“Why are you here?” Ronny said, glaring at him.

“To save Ichigo from you, you sick fucking piece of shit,” Grimmjow growled.

Ronny laughed.  “I’ve soiled him so that the filth will never leave him, you’ll never have him, I’ve ruined that boy, he was ruined from the day I met him and killed his mother!” he yelled and dove at Grimmjow, landing a good punch to the jaw.

Grimmjow heard Shunsui behind him yelling to let him have a shot.  But there was no way, he was taking this bastard down for what he did.  He managed to get in a good angle and connected a haymaker hard into his face.  He stumbled backward, but instead of retaliating, Ronny looked at him for a moment, then crumpled to the ground.  Grimmjow dropped his stance and frowned, moving over and kneeling, checking on him.  He shook him, then checked for a pulse.

“He’s dead,” Grimmjow said softly as he looked up at Shunsui.


	11. Epilogue: Fallout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short ending, I know. Might come back and add to it, but this one just felt complete where it ended. Thank you so much for reading!

 

“He’s dead?” Renji said as the ambulance screamed back toward the city. He was surprised how fast they had gotten there and that they let both Renji and Grimmjow ride with them.

Grimmjow nodded, glancing at Ichigo who was still unconscious. “Just fuckin’ hit the dirt. The paramedic said it looked like he just had a heart attack but he couldn’t be sure. He was a meth user, so it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

Renji nodded. “Damn. I mean, I’m glad the bastard’s dead, but I’d rather he faced some consequence for what he did to Ichigo.”

“I’d say death is a hell of a consequence,” one of the paramedics said with a shake of his head.

“He should have suffered more,” Grimmjow muttered as they pulled into the hospital’s back entrance. “How’s he doing?” he asked.

“Well, he hasn’t woken up yet,” the blonde paramedic said with a sigh. “The chest wound is deep but not really bad. We can’t tell a lot here, but we’ll see at the hospital what they say.”

Before long, everyone was at the hospital waiting to find out Ichigo’s condition. Renji and Grimmjow both found themselves worried sick and spent the next week on alternative twelve-hour schedules at the hospital. The doctors said that it was most likely all the shock and trauma catching up to him and his body just needed time to heal. Knowing this did not make waiting any easier for either Renji or Grimmjow. Both were impatient to talk to Ichigo and to tell him the news.

Aizen and his men ended up going away for a long time, but no matter what the law did to them, Grimmjow knew that one day, things might change and Aizen could come for them again. He knew that his reach could extend beyond the jail he was housed in. Still, he had to rejoice in the small victory that he was put away for now, and that was enough.

Grimmjow was sitting beside the bed, thumbing through his phone and looking down in the mouth when Ichigo woke up.

“You look like someone died,” he croaked through dry lips.

“Ichigo!” Grimmjow gasped, immediately texting Renji. “Baby, you were out for a week!”

“That’s why I feel like death?” he winced, putting a hand to his chest. “Ow.”

“Here,” Grimmjow said and grabbed a cup of water for him to drink. “Take it slow,” he commanded when Ichigo tried to slurp too much at one time.

Ichigo panted a bit. “Sorry, I was thirsty. I mean, a week means I’m dry,” he said with a smirk.

The door opened and Renji came rushing into the room, dropping to the seat on the other side as he grabbed his right hand. “Ichigo!” he said with a smile. “I’m so glad you’re awake!”

Ichigo shook his head, still amused by these two. “You are still here too?” he asked with a smile.

“Of course, where would I go?” Renji smirked at him and then kissed the back of his hand. “I have to stay near you.”

“Is it really okay? To be with two people like this?” Ichigo asked, almost not talking to them but to the room itself.

“It is,” Grimmjow confirmed. “But you should know, Ronny’s dead.”

Ichigo blinked, staring at him for a long time. “Dead?”

“He had a heart attack during the chase,” Renji explained, squeezing Ichigo’s hand again as he talked. “The meth, they think. He’d had almost enough to overdose himself before he tried to enact his murder/suicide plan with you.”

Ichigo frowned, not really knowing what to think of that. Ronny had been such a part of his life for so long, he wasn’t sure he knew what to do without him in it. Something about it made him sad, though. Something about everything that had happened. He had spent his life dedicating himself to someone like Ronny, to his every whim, and now, he was just gone.

The tears came and though neither Renji or Grimmjow really understood why Ichigo was crying over the serial killer who had basically held him hostage for so long, they comforted him. No matter what, he was hurting, and that was all that mattered.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo’s rehabilitation went by quickly, but it was not without snags and blocks. He still suffered from a lot of problems, and between Grimmjow and Renji, they knew they had a lot to deal with. Still, after a couple months in the hospital under intense therapy of various sorts, Ichigo was cleared to leave and move into his new home with both Renji and Grimmjow.

The new house looked nothing like the apartments that he had previously inhabited, and it was a good thing for all of them. They knew that he would struggle, and they knew that he would have rough days, but they also knew that they would be there for him. In the end, the only person to receive the ultimate punishment had been Ronny.

Ichigo had ended up right where he wanted to be, right between his blue haired lover and his red haired lover.


End file.
